Harry Potter and the United Power

Chapter 4

“Nice to see you're up,” Hermione said as Harry entered the lounge room.

Harry looked at his watch and realised it was 11 a.m. “Oh, um, I couldn't sleep,” he said as he sat down on the lounge next to Hermione.

“Harry, have you made a decision yet?” Dumbledore asked as Harry sat down.

“Um, well no not yet. I wanted to know what Hermione and Ron thought before I decided,” Harry told him.

“Very well, then, I have arranged for the others to arrive at lunch time. I will tell them all then if you wish,” Dumbledore explained as he leaned back in his chair.

Harry sat up at that. There was a possibility that he wouldn't have to antagonise about the situation for too much longer. “Ah, yes, sir. I'd like that.”

“Very well,” Dumbledore said as he got up to leave. “There is some breakfast in the kitchen if you want any,” he said and left.

“So, what have you three been doing this morning?” Harry asked as Dumbledore left.

“Oh, we've been doing some training,” Ginny answered.

“Training?” Harry inquired. “Why would you be training already? You don't even know if I'm going to stay. What's the point in it if I don't want you to help me?” Harry yelled.

“Ah, it's not for the battle Harry,” Hermione told him. “It's just for school. Dumbledore got permission for us to practice magic outside of school as long as we're at Grimmauld Place, so that we could do training for the battle,” Hermione began. “Seeing as we weren't going to be doing training for that for a while, I asked Dumbledore if we could do some practice for school. That's all we've been doing,” Hermione explained.

“Oh, okay,” Harry muttered, feeling a bit stupid for having overreacted. “Well do you want to come with me and get some breakfast?” Harry asked as he got up and headed the kitchen, shortly followed by the other three.

Shortly after Harry had grabbed some breakfast, the group found themselves back in the lounge room. “So, is that all you lot have been doing while you were waiting for me?” Harry asked. Hermione looked slightly confused so he added, “practicing stuff for school.”

“Well, we've been fixing this place up a bit, too,” Hermione started, “and of course we've had time to muck around too. Ron and Ginny reckon I should learn to fly. I trust you think I should, too.”

Harry looked at her and smiled, “Yeah, I'd love you to learn to fly. That'd be awesome. Then we could have a lot more fun. It's so much more fun in the air, you know,” he told her. “You'd love it,” he encouraged her. “Seeing as we can do magic, we can enchant the ground so that you won't get hurt if you fall,” Harry explained to try and comfort her.

“Yeah, we can go to that wizard beach that Dumbledore mentioned, too. Then if you fall, you'll just hit water and that's not as bad as the ground. You can swim, right?” Ron suggested.

“Of course I can swim, Ron,” she retorted.

Harry sighed and wanting to prevent a fight from starting between the two of them quickly said, “Alright, well, we can ask Dumbledore if we can go to the beach tonight, and Hermione can start to learn to fly.”

Hermione felt a bit nervous about that. “You want to start tonight? Can't we wait a while? I'd like to learn, but not right away.”

Harry laughed. “Oh, come on, it's not something you can learn it books. Trust me, you'll love it, you've just gotta give it a try. Plus, the three of us will all be there. It's not like you can get hurt,” tried to reassure her. “Ron, have you still got your old broom?” he asked, they needed a broom for Hermione to use.

Ron nodded, “Yeah, I left my old one here after last year when mum brought me the new one. It should still be up in the bedroom.”

“Okay, cool, do you mind using your old one?” Harry asked Ron. “I want to put Hermione on mine, as it's the safest one. I want to use yours so I can help Hermione out if she gets stuck, and you can use your old one,” Harry explained. Ron was reluctant to agree to it, as he liked his new broom much better. “It's only for a little bit, mate. We're going to Diagon Alley in a few days, and we can get Hermione her own broom while we're there,” he added.

“Yeah, alright, then,” Ron agreed.

“Um, why don't we see if we can go now?” Ginny asked. “I mean, the others are coming at lunch time, so we've only got an hour, but we don't have a clue what Dumbledore will have us doing after that,” she explained as the others looked confused.

Harry felt Hermione tense up at that and he smiled at her. “Nah, I'm sure we'll be alright to go tonight. I don't think we'll be starting straight away. Plus, I don't think Hermione wants to go just now,” Harry responded.

“Do you mean your gonna stay?” Ron questioned.

“I didn't say that,” Harry argued. “I want to teach Hermione to fly, though, so I suppose I'll stay here and help her with that, but I never said anything about agreeing to do what the prophecy says.”

“Yeah, alright, mate, we really don't want you to leave, though, but it's your choice,” Ron told him.

Just as Ron finished the doorbell rang, and they saw Dumbledore emerge from a door to the side. “That's the others,” he said as he passed them all in the lounge room.

“Oh, is it twelve already?” Hermione exclaimed.

“Yep, sure is,” Harry replied. “We'll ask Dumbledore if we can teach you to fly after we discuss the prophecy,” he told her and leaved back in the chair.

Dumbledore walked into the room followed by Neville, Luna, Pansy and Justin. They took the seats opposite Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny. Dumbledore sat in the armchair in front of the fire. “Okay, now I've explained to the eight of you in brief why you are all here,” Dumbledore began. “Now that I have the eight of you all in one place, I shall explain more fully what is going to happen. First of all, I must tell you all a prophecy that was given many years ago which relates to the eight of you,” he explained as he took a sip of water. “Harry has already heard the prophecy and it is his decision as to whether he follows it or not,” he continued and looked at Harry. “Harry, do you want to tell them all the first prophecy or shall I?” he asked.

Harry looked up at Dumbledore, he didn't know if he wanted to tell everyone but he supposed he had no choice. “Um, yes I suppose so,” Harry answered. “It 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.' That could have been either me or Neville, but he marked me with the scar so it's me,” Harry explained.

Most of the group were shocked by this. It was only Hermione and Dumbledore who weren't shocked, as both had heard the prophecy before. Neville was more surprised than anyone. “Yes, it was possible that either Harry or Neville was chosen, however, Harry was chosen. There is another prophecy which relates to how this defeat is to be accomplished,” Dumbledore explained. Harry shifted uncomfortably in his seat, knowing that soon he'd have to make a decision whether to leave the wizarding world or stay. “The prophecy was given many years before that first one, and so for quite sometime the meaning couldn't be understood,” he continued. “This is what that prophecy said, The downfall of the Dark Lord will come when the heirs of those who once battled unite, creating a force which has not been seen for centuries: The United Power. The four shall defeat the Dark Lord with four others. Unhindered, the eight will form the Power. Aided, they will fall,” he told them, and gave them all time to react and try to understand it. Then he began to explain it to them. “You see, the four that it talks about are the heirs of the four Hogwarts founders,” he explained and looked around at the group. “The four heirs are Harry, Luna, Pansy and Justin.” Justin was surprised by this as he was a muggle born. “Yes, Justin, you are an heir. This took some deciphering though as it was quite a way back in your family that we found the relation to Helga Hufflepuff. It is a distant relation but as you have been the only wizard since then, you are the heir,” he clarified and then looked at Luna. “Luna, we have only recently discovered that you are an heir. It was only when you said at the end of last year that you could hear the voices in that room that I knew you had to be the heir. Rowena was a seer, and she had a remarkable talent of being able to understand things that others couldn't,” he told her and then turned to Pansy. “Pansy, you too are a distant heir. Voldemort is the true heir of Slazzar Slytherin, however you have a distant link through a cousin,” he explained to her and then turned to Harry. “Harry, we've known you were an heir for quite some time. You are the only heir that has a strong link to the founder, and that is why you are so important.” Harry just nodded. He'd already gathered that he was the only true heir in the group. “I will explain what will happen from here on in later, however I need to know that all of you are willing to fulfil the prophecy,” he asked and turned to look at Luna.

“Yes, I'll help,” Luna answered. Justin just nodded, as did Ginny and Neville.

“Pansy?”

“Yes,” she said after a moment of thought.

“Ron?” Dumbledore pushed. Ron nodded to say he'd do it, as did Hermione shortly afterwards.

“Harry?”

Harry looked up from the floor. He knew this question was coming sooner or later but he didn't have an answer to it. “I don't want them to die for me,” he eventually spoke up, once he'd said it he got up and headed up to his room.

Hermione got up to go after him but was stopped by Dumbledore. “It's his choice Hermione, let him go.”

Hermione sat back down. “But, what will happen to him?” she inquired.

“He knows what will happen,” Dumbledore started. “He will die,” he finished bluntly.

Hermione started crying. “How can you let him go like that? You can't let him die,” she screamed.

“I don't intend to. I had hoped that by not telling him the whole truth about what will happen if he doesn't stay, he would, however he's still chosen to leave, and I can't stop him. I will explain what I intend to do later,” Dumbledore told them and got up to leave.

“Sir,” Hermione called as he was leaving.

“Yes, Hermione?”

“You said you didn't tell Harry the truth about what would happen if he didn't stay. What will happen?”

“Ah, yes, well I told him Voldemort would rise to power, however both will die. I had hoped that would make him stay, but he didn't,” he responded and entered the next room.

***

Hermione rushed up to Harry's room the second Dumbledore left to talk to Harry, however, all she found was an empty room. The window was open and she raced to it. As she got there she caught the last glimpse of Harry before he moved into the safety of the cloud cover. She gazed out the window for a while longer and tears began to fall. As she turned away she saw an envelope on the bed.

Dear Hermione,

Sorry. I know you didn't want me to leave, but I had to. I know Dumbledore lied to me, I heard him talking about it with Remus earlier. I know that if I leave we'll both die and no one else has to. I'm sorry, Hermione, but either way I'd lose you. I don't want you to die because of me. Dumbledore hasn't told you yet but some who help will die. I don't want that. As Dumbledore said, sometimes one must die so that others may live.

Get the others to teach you how to fly. Keep in touch with me. I'll be at the Leaky Cauldron for a while. I'll miss you. Tell me when you're learning to fly, and I'll try and come.

I know you don't want me to do this, but it's for the best. Voldemort always kills the people I most love, and that's you. Hermione, I love you, and that's why I'm doing this.

~ Harry