Chapter 27: Chapter 27: The Woes of Prophecies
Hogwarts Castle, Somewhere in the Scottish Highlands
November 23rd, 1992, 12:30 PM
"In the year of 1979, I witnessed a young seer give a prophecy about the end of the Dark Lord."
Dumbledore said, and saw that he had Erik's attention. He took a deep breath and continued.
"I was in the middle of interviewing a young woman to the Office of Divination Professor, when she went into a trance and made a prophecy. She said: 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 power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for 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…"
Dumbledore stood there, looking at Erik.
"That's all?"
Erik flatly said.
"No, no. You see, a young man, who had made some very bad decisions in his life, heard the first part of the prophecy and managed to escape. He then went to the Dark Lord and told him about what he had heard. The Dark Lord believed in it, and so turned to hunt the possible 'chosen one'."
Dumbledore said, made a small pause, and then continued.
"The Dark Lord then took note of the pregnant couples that had fought against him in the time and that had the birth of their child foreseen for the end of July. Two couples matched the circumstances; The Potters and the Longbottoms. The young Death Eater, who had made the report of the prophecy, then took notice that one of the women targeted was his sweetheart since childhood, and came to me, asking that I help her."
Dumbledore made a pause while some students passed by them, and continued talking.
"I did it. The young Death Eater became my spy into the Dark Lord people, and I warned the couples about how the Dark Lord was after them and their babies. They, then, went into hiding. They even put their hiding houses under the Fidelius charm. By the Halloween of 1981, the Dark Lord had made his choice of who was the 'chosen one', and with the help of the treason of their secret keeper, he attacked the Potters' hiding house. The result of it is already well known. The couple got killed, while the baby managed to survive and rebound the killing curse back to its caster with only a wound in the shape of a lightning bolt in his head, fulfilling, so, the first part of the prophecy."
He said and made a dramatic pause. Dumbledore then concluded.
"And so I believe that young Harry Potter is the one mentioned in the prophecy, and only can end the Dark Lord for good."
Dumbledore finished talking. At the end of his speech, he had this air around him that yelled 'I'm the right one here, I know what I'm talking about'. But he couldn't be more wrong about it.
"That's it?"
Erik said flatly.
"Just with your own interpretation of a prophecy you reached this conclusion?"
He didn't give Dumbledore any time to reply.
"Let's dismantle this prophecy in parts, shall we?"
And Erik started to 'dismantle the prophecy.
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches. Which Dark Lord is it talking about? The one active in the British Isles at the time? Or one that was active on the other side of the world at the same time? Or one that has not come into power yet? Or is it talking about a Dark Lord that isn't even born yet? The point is, it does not say who the Dark Lord is."
Erik pointedly finished his analysis of the first verse. He then continued.
"Now, the second verse: Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies. July is the seventh month. But it could be talking about the seventh month after the prophecy was made, and if you were doing the interview in the summer, that would put the month of birth of the child in January, February, or March. Now, the death of the seventh month could be about a child birth just as a person named Julio dies, after all July was named after the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar. The 'thrice defied him' could limit your choices, but then it could be about any couple that said or did anything that went against the Dark Lord creed three times. That is a kind of defiance too, is it not?"
"But he chose the Potters and…"
Dumbledore said after Erik had finished his analysis of the second verse. The look that he received back made him stop talking immediately.
"The third verse: and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not. This mark could be anything. It could be a physical mark, or it could be a psychological one. And the power that the Dark Lord knows not could be anything too. It doesn't necessarily have to be magical power. It could be knowledge of something that the Dark Lord doesn't know, after all, I just have said that knowledge or information is power. It could be even something that he never had, like a powerful alliance, or a powerful friend."
Erik finished his third analysis, and continued to the final one.
"The fourth and final verse now: and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives. Does it mean that they can only be killed by each other? Not at all. I could go to the kid with a contract, it doesn't need to be a magical one, put a sickle in his hand and say to him: 'Hey kid, if you sign this and give me the sickle in your hand, I will get rid of the Dark Lord for you'. And it would fit the prophecy perfectly. Damn, if the kid announced that he would give a reward to any that managed to get rid of the Dark Lord, it would have fit it too. The chosen one, by his hand, vanquished the Dark Lord."
Dumbledore was dumbly looking at Erik. He was thinking deeply about what he heard about and ended up concluding that he was right; The prophecy had too much space for interpretation. Erik then continued talking.
"You see, Mr. Dumbledore, people are what give prophecies their power. And who gave this one power was exactly three people: the peeping young Death Eater, Tom Riddle, and you. Unfortunately, or fortunately, whichever you prefer, the young Death Eater believed in the veracity of the parts of prophecy that he had heard. He then told the actual Dark Lord, who in turn, believed in it too. With his belief in him being the mentioned Dark Lord, the prophecy marked him as it. He then went and chose the couples that had childs coming at the end of July and had 'defied' him three times, whichever was the way of defiance that he chose, and that set the possible 'chosen ones' for the prophecy. You had come to the same conclusion as the Dark Lord, and so gave it even more power. Then it came to the attack. Tom Riddle chose his equal, and marked him as it. He went to the house and killed the parents first, making the young Harry Potter an orphan, just like he was. The prophecy took this as the mark, and made Harry Potter its 'chosen one'."
"But the scar…"
Dumbledore tentatively said.
"Ah, the scar, yes. It could have been the mark, but it is not. And do you know why, Mr. Dumbledore? Because he had already marked the child before the scar was done. The protection that the kid's mother had crafted and fueled with her life force worked perfectly, and held back a second instance of 'mark as his equal' long enough that it could be removed. You must have seen Mr. Potter and Professor McGonagall exiting the Headmaster's office, didn't you?"
Erik explained and then asked Dumbledore.
"Yes, Minerva seemed furious and when I tried to talk with her, she dismissed me and protected Mr. Potter behind her."
Dumbledore replied while deflating when talking about his friend's reaction to him. Erik chuckled at that.
"Professor McGonagall seems to have a strong maternal instinct."
He commented lightly, but got serious for his next explanation.
"You see, the Aurors that were combing the office had found a hidden set of sealed memories in dated flasks. They examined the most recently dated one and invited me to watch it after they had watched themselves. Mr. Potter's adventure was not entertaining to watch, and his last foe had a very peculiar reaction to his touch. That he was protecting an item that belonged to a good friend of mine is just a cherry in the cake. I them asked for the presence of Mr. Potter and Professor McGonagall, and I, together with Director Bones, asked him to tell his tale fully, from the beginning. After some very long minutes, I asked Mr. Potter if I could check his body. He consented with it and I did the check up."
Erik talked about what had happened. During his mention of a hidden set of memories, Dumbledore's face blanched. Erik finished, made a little pause, and continued talking.
"After the checkup, I found out that there was a seed to a Horcrux trying to root itself into Mr. Potter."
Dumbledore had got even paler after hearing that.
"Trying is the key word here. Mr. Potter's mother's protection was keeping it at bay, blocking it from rooting in his body. With it not fixed into his body, it was just the matter of removing it and destroying it in the right way, making it the third Horcrux from Tom Riddle that was found."
"So I was right in that one, Lily's love for her son protected him."
Erik concluded, and Dumbledore said with a smile appearing on his face.
"Yes and no."
Erik said back, dumping a metaphorical bucket of cold water on Dumbledore's head.
"No, it was not a protection made of love. But yes, her love for him was strong enough so that magic accepted the sacrifice and used her life force as a means to fuel the magecraft that she had previously prepared."
"Magecraft?"
"Yes, Mr. Dumbledore. The protection around Mr. Potter is magecraft. The theory is that Lily Potter was learning magecraft and devised a protection for her family, but she had not had the time to fuel it. She, in a desperate move, then used the fact that magecraft can accept different energies to fuel it and used sacrificial magic to fuel the protection for her baby with her life. The Dark Lord was just the one that concluded the sacrifice by killing her. Had he killed the baby first, it would not have worked as she intended."
Erik made a small pause and continued.
"With the protection fuelled and in place, it only needed a target. That is when Mr. Riddle attacked Mr. Potter and his curse rebounded in the protection, setting him as its 'target'. From that moment on until his adulthood, Mr. Riddle could never hurt Mr. Potter himself. And with the prophecy giving him the necessary protection, Mr. Potter is almost unkillable by the means of probabilities since one can only die at the hands of the other. It still can't prevent the Dark Lord from giving an order to Mr. Potter to be killed. Quirrell couldn't do it just because the Dark Lord was taking his body as his own."
What Erik just said had thrown through the window all of Dumbledore's theories. Erik then continued with his explanation.
"Now, about how Mr. Potter almost became a Horcrux. My theory is that Tom Riddle's soul was already really unstable at that point due to the other minimal amount of two Horcruxes that he had already made, and he had prepared himself to craft another one that night. After the cold blood murder of two people and the rebound of the killing curse, a piece of his soul dislodged and searched for the nearest magically strong host to take root. It then went to Mr. Potter and tried to root itself in the baby, but his mother's protection kept it at bay. The fact that Mr. Potter had headaches in the presence of the possessed Professor Quirrel, or when he touched him during the last confrontation for the protection of the philosopher's stone, just collaborates with the facts. The main soul presence was giving the seed strength to force the protection. If the Dark Lord had his own physical body, and with enough contact with the boy, the seed would have managed to get through the protection and root itself in Mr. Potter's body, making him a living Horcrux. And that would have been a lot more complicated to get rid of."
Erik finally finished his long explanation. Dumbledore took time to digest everything that he had just heard and when he was about to talk, he noticed that Erik had continued to go down the stairs. Dumbledore quickly followed after him, managing to reach just as they arrived at the Great Hall entrance.
"Lord Ravenclaw, and how many more Horcruxes do you think that Tom has crafted?"
"I sincerely have no idea. The Unspeakables are the ones responsible to find and dispose of them. I only have the one that is a family heirloom in my possession."
Dumbledore asked, and Erik replied as he walked through the tables.
"A family heirloom?"
"Yes. He dared to transform Helena's Diadem into a Horcrux. But I have already made contact with a friend so that he can remove the 'thing' from it without damaging the item."
Erik answered and stopped by Leona's side, who was seated in the Ravenclaw eating lunch. He looked at Dumbledore, and told the old looking boy.
"But a person who dares craft three, can craft more."
Dumbledore nodded his head, thoughtful.
"It makes sense. Before his time in Hogwarts, Tom Riddle had the penchant to keep trophies. If he would craft the 'things', he would use items of personal importance for him, and he considered Hogwarts his true home."
Dumbledore said and looked at Erik. He was looking back at him with a serious face.
"Remember what I said about information? If you want to help, take the info that you just told me and tell it to Croaker, of the Unspeakables. And talk with Director Bones too, if you can. You may have to explain to her about the blood items that we found in the office. They already identified one of the bloods used as being Mr. Potter's."
Dumbledore's face paled after hearing that. He nodded at Erik and quickly got out of the Great Hall through the main entrance to the castle.
Erik just observed the old looking boy almost running out of the Great Hall, checked his clock and seated at Leona's side.
"So, what do we have for lunch?"
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