Chapter 1. – Green is the Colour of Death
As a child born to a forgotten House,
A Herald of Light to Evil douse,
Come into his own at Death's own Light,
A leader against the Darkest Night.
Maia's birth spells the end,
A Death then a choice portend,
Maia's son directs the path,
While Janus presents the Hero's part.
Yet danger flies closer and true,
Born of betrayal, lies and fools,
Here and now the guide must be,
Blessed by that smothering deity.
The one with power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches . . .
Born to those who have trice 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 . . .
- Prophecy by Cassandra the Seer. Records of Farsight in Apollo's Curse (1100 BCE)
- (Recorded - Date Unknown)
- (Named for - Unknown)
Buried deep in the archives of the Department of Mysteries, lay this prophecy of Power. Once it had been studied diligently by the Department's scholars, eager to prevent the rising of a Dark Lord or to identify the one to defeat him. Or at best, to prove themselves worthy of a promotion. But the decades passed and with no details to go by, and no prophesied events coming to pass, the once revered Ball of Prophecy collected, one among many, from Cassandra Trelawney's home after her passing, was left to gather dust in the Hall of Prophecies. And there it remained for many years more.
Until in his fifth year, one Harry Potter, a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, along with a group of his closest friends, arrived at the Ministry of Magic, ostensibly to save Harry's godfather.
Having arrived in a group, the members quickly spread out. "Everybody remembers what to do?" asked their green-eyed leader. The others nodded and in seconds all five had disappeared into the depths of the vast Hall of Prophecies.
Following a long-debated plan, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Luna, Neville spread through the Hall, down the long, narrow aisles, laying traps and hiding triggers along the way. They all knew they had the time to get their work done right since Snape would signal them when the Death Eaters were in the building.
"Aisles 30 to 40 have Cascading and Molten Hexes on them," panted Hermione as she rounded the corner to where Harry and Luna were setting up a trap for their visitors. "And I think Ron and Neville have set up the other DE traps too."
"Great! This is the last one for us too. You didn't forget the Illusion and Unbreakable Charms, did you?"
Rolling her eyes at her best friend, Hermione sped away without a reply, leaving Luna to shake her blond curls at him. "Seriously, Harry?"
"Well, I won't get the Leader's paycheque if I don't at least act like one!"
The petite blond just sent a Stinging Hex to his side. "OW! ... Meanie."
"Focus, Harry!" Grinning at each other, they got back to work, carefully setting up an experimental and volatile piece of magic that recognised and captured Death Eaters using their Dark Mark's aura. They had tested it out on Snape, and the man had not been a happy camper. Perhaps they should've given him a bit of warning.
The next half hour was an exercise in stealth, swiftness and accuracy, as the friends set up all their surprises throughout the Hall of Prophecies before the arrival of their guests. Just as Snape's Patronus arrived relaying information about the DE arriving, they found a surprise waiting for them somewhere in aisle 209 which was very near the end of the radius they had covered in the room. One of the prophecy balls had begun glowing brightly just as Harry passed by it. Looking closely, they could see the initials H.J.P. appearing on the base of its pedestal, just below the name Cassandra the Hidden. Luna gaped at the glowing ball.
"Harry, pick that up now. That is a prophecy by the greatest Seer blessed by Apollo himself, Cassandra. We must know what it says."
Harry gave her a sideways look, "Luna, you know how I feel about prophecies."
She patted his arm, unfazed by his indecision. "I know, brother mine, But this is something you should not ignore. I do not doubt that this prophecy has been waiting here for you and will come true whether you or not you know what it is."
"But..."
"But," she continued, quelling him with a Look, "since we are here, pick it up so it can be researched.
"Pushy, aren't you?" Harry drawled, picking up the glowing ball that was resting at shoulder height for him and handed it over to Luna, who stashed it in a pocket of her robes, after casting several protective spells on the precious ball. And not a moment too soon.
A loud crash was heard at the entrance to the Hall of Prophecies and a high cackle sounded eerily through the silence. The teenagers all looked at each other, the same thought running through their minds. 'Seriously? Cliché much?'
Unbeknownst to all other soon-to-arrive participants of the upcoming skirmish, Harry Potter was neither an average wizard in terms of skill, intelligence or power, but was also, most definitely, not a fool. A studious and bright young man, with an equally bright and talented group of friends can accomplish much; something that the Marauders had already established in their time at school. And as the Lord Potter-Evans-Peverell-Morpheus-Black, Harry had considerable resources at his command after his forced emancipation due to the Triwizard Tournament; an opportunity that he and his friends had gleefully taken complete advantage of. But, back to the matter at hand.
Some months ago, as today, the five friends had been able to arrive quickly and directly in the Hall of Prophecies because the average (meaning every single specimen of) wizard completely overlooked the power of the house-elves.
Granted, no-one ever thought to travel to the Ministry by house-elf. There were Floos and Apparition points and magical telephone booths for that kind of thing. But this was a loophole in the Ministry's defences and why ever would the Quintet not use it?! A bit of reconnaissance was all that Dobby had needed, which was easy because house-elves were sneakier than hobbits, and the only thing that took a week was the identification of the right portal in the Room of Revolving Doors.
Having once seen the Hall of Prophecies and exactly where Harry's own prophecy was kept, all Dobby had to do was to pop back home, bring the whole group back into the bowels of the Ministry completely undetected, pick up the right bright, glowing ball, and pop everyone right back home.
Yes. You read that right. Harry had already come by much earlier to pick up Trelawney's prophecy and he and his friends knew its complete contents.
The whole trip had taken less than five minutes, and the operation had been celebrated with a cask of Butterbeer, food and good night's sleep for all Marauders big and small. Especially for Dobby; the Ministry's wards may not be geared specifically to keep house-elves out, but they were strong nonetheless and moving through them three times in quick succession had been a strain on the enthusiastic young elf.
Not that he minded.
What did all that amount to now, you ask?
Well, Harry had found out about Dumbledore's manipulations and knew that the Headmaster would expect him to act the hero again in another big showdown against old Voldy. Despite being in two minds about it, his team planned for that eventuality, using every advantage they could think of. A bit of work and lots of effort brought Snape on their side, though not easily, and he messengered the news of Harry's plan to sneak into the Ministry earlier than Voldemort expected. All of which brought them here in the DoM on a mission that would make the Death Eaters and Dumbledore alike, play right into his hands.
There was little time for wool-gathering as all five students sped off quietly to take their places in the Hall. "Hand over the prophecy now, and there will be no trouble for you," spoke a cold voice, as Harry and Neville peered around the corner of an aisle, just in time to see Lucius Malfoy remove his mask with one hand and extend the other towards them. "Now children, give it to me."
"This prophecy is mine Malfoy!" shouted Harry, motioning to Neville to back away, hoping that the others were faring well.
A mad laughter rose in the darkness, and another form stepped out from beside the Malfoy Patriarch to grin wildly at the two boys.
"Itty bitty Potty wants to play, does he? And he's brought his Longbottom friend with him. Do you want to hear him scream like his mommy and daddy did?"
"Get behind me Neville!" Harry put actions to words, and the two boys began moving backwards away from the swarm of black cloaks and white masks they could now see spreading around Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange, like a miasma of darkness. Their arrival alone seemed to darken the bright glow of the prophecy orbs closest to them.
"Your hearts are as black as your half-blood master."
"You will not live to speak such lies with your filthy mouth again, Potter!" screamed Bellatrix, her wand spitting curses towards her targets, as the mad witch chased them deeper into the room.
A deep voice growled, "Bellatrix! Do not forget that our Lord wants Potter alive and unharmed."
The thunder of running feet slowed behind the two boys, and they risked a look behind them to see the Death Eaters spreading out through the aisles, most likely to attempt to capture the students more easily.
Ducking behind the 83rd row of shelves, Neville set up a shield against the spell-fire as Harry grinned at Hermione. "Do you mind triggering them now?"
In response, Hermione only tapped a Rune Stone she held in her hand. Already powered, the rune flashed once and blinked off. In the distance, a rumbling could be heard, followed by shouts of surprise and anger, and then a hundred voices rose into the air, vying for their prophecies to be heard. Meanwhile, Hermione had moved to another Rune Stone and activated that one too. With a soft snickt sound, traps that had been laid throughout the Hall began to activate, pulling the closest DE into an unguided Apparition that automatically stunned the victim and deposited them in a pre-prepared, reinforced, unbreakable holding cell. It had required a clever and ingenious use of Extrasensory and Apparition Charms combined with Aura Recognition Charms tied to the Dark Marks, with a layer of Notice-Me-Not Charms and a variation of the Incarcerous Charm over everything to ensure that the spells would not be noticed until activated. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, the team had laid almost 40 traps all over the Hall, hoping that every single DE sent to the DoM would be captured that night.
And they were right.
A low pop announced Dobby's arrival, looking up at Harry, ears twitching in excitement. "The cells are being full Harry sir! All bad marks are arriving just as Sir said. Sir's Grangy is being very smart!" He turned to look at Hermione, wide-eyed in awe.
Snickers in the darkness behind them signalled Ron and Luna arriving. "Yes, the Grangy is very smart," chortled Ron, earning him a glare and a look of disgust from said 'Grangy'. Neville and Harry fought to keep their lips from twitching, and Dobby wisely stepped away from the witch.
Huffing at her friends, Hermione pointedly decided to continue with the plan. "Homenum Revelio," she incanted and a pulse of magic raced through the room. The others did the same for different areas of the Hall and all the results came back negative. Pleased, the witch swished her wand and said, "Accio trigger runestones".
40 runestones came sailing through the air, to rest in two neat piles – used 32 and unused 8. Harry raised a brow at that. "So many, for one little glowing ball."
"Didn't know you were a glow-worm Harry," commented Luna lightly, and the others grinned at the bespectacled boy, who gave the standard mature response – sticking his tongue out at the little blond.
"Perhaps such respectable Lords as yourselves, Misters Potter and Longbottom, ought not to be fooling around when there's work to be done, hmm?"
Neville gasped in surprise and the others stepped into place around Harry, even as the boy himself bit back a muttered oath as he swung around to face the speaker. "Professor," he nodded at the man now sweeping out of the darkness.
"All seems to have gone according to plan, then?"
"Yes sir. We now only have to wait for Tom to make his appearance." Looking pointedly at the man's left arm, he asked, "How's the arm, sir?"
Snape touched his left forearm reflexively, an action born of long years of indentured servitude to a madman. "The mark did its work. I would like nothing more than to be rid of the reminder when all is said and done."
Emerald eyes stared into sloe black ones solemnly as Harry replied, "As soon as this is over, I'll do it."
Snape stared down at the boy before him, noting the straight back and the resolute air of command that now shone through his bearing. Thoughts flashed through his mind, though nothing appeared on his face. Abruptly he spun away, striding back through the aisles towards the entrance, black robes billowing. "The Dark Lord will be here soon, as will the Order. It is time to end this."
Harry looked at his friends, as Snape disappeared into the darkness. "Last chance to back out. This isn't your fight."
Luna stepped close and rose up to lightly kiss his cheek. Harry's arms closed around her, head burrowed into her shoulder. She ran her hand through his hair. "You know our answer." Neville, Hermione and Ron joined in the group hug, sharing this moment of peace before the calm passed.
Hermione sighed, ruffling Harry's hair and tapping the boys' shoulders as she stepped away. "Come on guys, we have work to do."
"Nag," Ron rumbled playfully as the group broke apart, ready to take the fight to Riddle.
Collecting everything they had brought with them, the group, including Dobby popped into the main entrance to the MoM. Taking a moment to orient themselves, they soon found Snape, Sirius and Remus already working in tandem as they layered the area in a wash of defensive and protective spells, creating all the signs of a battle. They stood quietly, letting the wizards finish; their work would begin soon enough.
They didn't have to wait long before Sirus bounded up to them, enveloping his godson in a hug, while Remus welcomed the rest of the group. Stepping back, Sirius asked, "You ready, pup?"
"As ready as I'll ever be; as we'll ever be. We've been preparing for this since first year, Padfoot, even if we didn't know it at the time. It's past time to end this."
The Marauder sighed heavily and nodded. He didn't want any of them to be in danger; hell, he'd wanted to take his godson and run when they had all first heard the prophecy. But Harry had a damnable heroic streak in his bone marrow and he would never have wanted to run away leaving his friends in danger. Sirius knew he would have lost that argument if he'd ever uttered it. Snape knew as much about his godson, for crying out loud! He rolled his eyes and focused on his pup only to see him smirking slightly, as if he'd known what his dogfather had been thinking. He rolled his eyes again.
"You'll give yourself a headache if you keep doing that, Sirius. I can hear all the rolling around," Remus commented lightly, ignoring his friend's glare.
"Do we know when the Order will arrive?" asked Ron.
Remus answered, "Severus sent his Patronus about the time you finished up inside, so it shouldn't take them too long." He turned to the aforementioned wizard and asked a question of his own. "Do we know when Riddle will arrive?"
Snape looked past him, directly into Harry's eyes. "Any minute now."
Harry nodded and turned to his friends. "Break and guard only. I don't want any of you hit. Dobby will be on hand for extra support and Luna, don't try anything funny unless absolutely needed." He looked at them in turn, "I'll keep the fight on me, and the adults will handle the rest. But what I must do today has to be done, and no matter what, I cannot have you bursting in and getting hurt." Turning his gaze on Hermione, he said, "Keep them on track. You all know the plan, stick to it."
Faces hard with determination, even while their eyes filled with fear and tears, his friends nodded and stepped away to take up their scouted positions. Dobby hugged Harry's leg and went after them, determined to keep Harry Sir's friends safe.
Squinting his eyes against a sudden pain building in his scar, Harry turned to Snape and the Marauders. "You should leave too. Can't have Dumbledore and Riddle getting too suspicious."
Snape only nodded and left immediately via Portkey. Remus and Sirius quickly hugged the raven-haired teen and followed his example a few seconds later. Focusing on the pain, Harry reached through the bond he shared with Voldemort, trying to make sense of the homunculus' feelings. Rage rolled through the link and he winced, distantly aware of the blood now flowing from his scar. He withdrew into his own mind, now aware that Voldemort would take some time yet to arrive, and settled for applying the cosmetic changes he needed to look the part of the heroic victor for the incoming Order party.
Waiting was truly boring once he had finished, and Harry had to hold himself back from pacing or starting a game of cards until the Order arrived. With his senses on high alert, he didn't even need the alarm of the Alert Charm to notify him when a large magical group arrived in the entrance hall in a ball of fire. Quick as a flash, from behind the Fountain of Magical Brethren, Harry shot off an Expelliarmus, closely followed by the same spell from his friends hidden around the room. Shouts of surprise and fear sounded as several Order members found themselves suddenly defenceless against what they imagined were the hordes of Death Eaters they had come to face down, even before they had a chance to truly see who they were facing.
Harry, however, simply smirked and waited patiently, he and his team keeping up a barrage of spell-fire against the newcomers from behind their shields, during the few seconds it took for the effects of Fawkes' transportation to disperse. By then, most of the Order was down, having been stunned, bound and gagged by the teens. The ones still standing were Dumbledore, Moody, Bill, Remus and Kingsley, and of those, only Moody still had his wand and was smiling. Looking directly at where the students were hidden, he nodded at them in respect.
"Harry?"
"Remus, is that you?"
"It's the Order, Harry. We've come to help."
"What does your Boggart turn into?"
"A moon."
"Good lad!" boomed Moody. "Constant Vigilance!"
Harry stepped out from behind the Fountain and approached the group, knowing his team would have his back, even as they started un-spelling the fallen Order members without leaving their places. Dumbledore finally found his voice, looking around the room and seeing the damage, while looking for his wand.
"Harry, my boy, it is good to see that you are safe. What happened to all the Death Eaters?"
"We drove them off, Headmaster. But my scar is hurting like hell, so it's only a matter of time that Voldemort makes an appearance."
"Then we have been given an unexpected reprieve." He looked at the rest of the Order, as Sirius and Remus fussed over Harry. "We would like our wands back now, if you would be so kind."
"Damn good move, Potter! Excellent reflexes! You would make a good Hit Wizard!"
The teen blinked at the scarred veteran Auror looking at him with a scary intensity, but shook his head. "I'd rather find a peaceful job like caring for Dragons," he replied with a smirk. Turning away from the obvious pride and humour mingled in the Auror's gaze, he extended a very familiar wand to Dumbledore. "Your wand, Headmaster."
The exchange went unnoticed by almost everyone in the room as the others retrieved their wands from the teens or where they had fallen to the floor. Dumbledore took the wand from Harry and nodded minutely. "Thank you, Harry."
With a smile, Harry moved past the moment and removed a glowing ball from his pocket, "I believe this is what he wants. I would like you to have this for safekeeping, sir. That way there will be no chance that he could force it from me."
Dumbledore smiled and took the prophecy ball, tucking it away quickly into a pocket in his robes. "A well-reasoned precaution."
There was no chance for further conversation as an incredible magical presence announced the arrival of Voldemort. Lazily twirling his wand, the Dark Lord sauntered towards the group and sneered at the assembled rag-tag bunch of witches and wizards. "Potter! You may have defeated my Death Eaters, but none of you are a match for me! But you have power, boy. Join me and I will spare your friends."
"Sorry Tom, but I'm not interested in being your lackey."
"Shame. I was prepared to be merciful, but you seem to be Dumbledore's man all through. Turning you would have been so much fun. The screams, the blood, the torture. Still, there is time yet for that. This is inevitable." And he let fly with a spell chain the colour of blood, as more Death Eaters poured into the entrance hall.
Behind Harry, the Order met their opponents, with Harry's team shielding where they could. Sirius and Remus had taken up guard duty roughly in front of the kids to keep the DEs physically away from them. It was an uneven battle, but the Order had the upper hand, mainly because they were being supported by the teens. In the meanwhile, Harry and Dumbledore took on Voldemort together, who screamed with rage when he realised that the two were more than keeping up with him. Dumbledore himself, privately, was surprised and not a little apprehensive of Harry's newfound strength, but chose to let the boy fulfil his destiny. He didn't know if the young man had heard the prophecy yet, but this was his path to make, and he did what he could to keep Harry on that path.
Things were going well; the Order was thinning out the Death Eaters and would soon be able to gain the upper hand. Everyone ignored the incoming Ministry members – including the current Minster for Magic, Cornelius Fudge – who having arrived by Floo, and automatically protected by a certain exasperated house-elf's vigilant magic, simply watched the battle aghast; but Moody and Kingsley had been joined by Amelia Bones, who had been contacted by one of her juniors, as well as some of the senior aurors. But in the midst of the haze of battle, everyone heard Voldemort's triumphant cry, and a second later, saw Harry's immobile form crumpled on the ground.
Dumbledore renewed his efforts while the rest of the Order fought on through a blur of tears and Remus tackled Sirius to keep him from getting caught in the way of the spells being exchanged by the two magical powerhouses. The Fountain was obliterated and the walls turned black from the heat of the spells they exchanged, dancing around each other, while the Order members, having subdued or driven off the Death Eaters, watched from a safe distance. The battle now, was for possession of the brave young wizard's body.
Harry's friends and family, shocked and weeping, simply waited.