The Founders Four

Chapter 05: The New World

The otter will set the ground and achieve the wish of unity

The lion will be the epitome of bravery and a great pillar of strength

The horse will fulfil its hopes and reunite with the phoenix

Four will unite to create the power and channel through the phoenix to destroy the dark lord"

After coming out of Pensieve, everyone settled back and after a few moments Dumbledore continued.

"Halfway through, we realised there was someone eavesdropping. He was a Death Eater who relayed the prophecy to Voldemort" Dumbledore said in a sad and disappointed voice

"Well that is similar to what happened in our timeline as well, but the contents of the prophecy was different. How much did the eavesdropper hear, and what did Voldemort decide to do after listening to it?" Salazar asked whilst bracing himself to hear some horrible story.

"The eavesdropper only heard the first two lines of the prophecy. Meaning he only knew that four children born in a time gap of three years will reunite and together they will have the power to kill Voldemort." Dumbledore paused for a moment. After that it seemed that it took a lot of effort to answer the next question

"Voldemort decided that he would need to eliminate the threat before they had the chance to 'unite and create the power'. Thus he tracked down every single magical child born in those three years and managed to kill them all. He especially killed Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom, Ronald and Ginevra Weasley with his own hands as they were what he considered the biggest threats to him. He also killed Marlene McKinnon, the Potter's family friend and his babysitter of the day, young Neville's parents, and Fabian and Gideon Prewett – as they were babysitting young Ronald and Ginevra. Along with the children born in magical families, he also managed to get hold of list of Muggle born children and killed most of them whilst they were at playschool. There were many play schools destroyed in that time. However there was one case where his Death Eater directly attacked a Muggle home. They were killed along with their one and half year old daughter Hermione Granger." Dumbledore fell silent but his eyes were far away as if watching the scene of destruction in front of his eyes at that very moment.

All four founders were in shock and horror at the revelations and they could not find words to describe their feelings. They thought that the war in their world was bad but to eliminate an entire generation of witches and wizards?

However before they could form words to express their shock, Dumbledore continued with his story.

"Almost all of our good fighters were killed or permanently injured. Either that or they had lost a child and were too disheartened by that fact. Especially the Weasleys, Potters, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. They have still not gotten over how Voldemort killed young Harry, Ron and Ginny. They have lost the confidence to ever be in a battle or fight back, so Voldemort takes great pleasure attacking them and watching them crumble and not fight back. They were our most talented fighters; but now they are here at Hogwarts teaching and training the next generation. They are affected so badly that they never had any more children, as they have a fear in themselves that if they did have another child then even that child will be killed by Voldemort himself."

Dumbledore had tears in his eyes so he paused to wipe them off and also to give a few moments to the travellers.

"After that, the light side did not have many fighters and the people who are still alive have lost hope or something to fight for. I have done what I can to keep Hogwarts safe. Till now I have managed to keep the Death Eaters out of Hogwarts but the students here live in fear of what is happening to their family and friends. We had three years without any student and that was the time when the atmosphere at Hogwarts was very tense."

Dumbledore took a sip of water and took a moment to come back from those memories before continuing. During this time, there was a moment of complete silence where the travellers sat there in a state of complete shock, trying to imagine the horrors that were a reality in this world.

Ron and Ginny were thinking about their family and their parents and trying to imagine what they must have gone through.

Hermione was devastated about her parents' death but then she thought of the state of the Potters and the Weasleys, she felt that at least her parents did not suffer through that pain. However, just as she thought of that she could see the face of Mrs Weasley in front of her eyes. But something was not right. Mrs Weasley's face was filled with grief, pain and longing rather than happiness and contentment. She had tears in her eyes just thinking of it and could not even begin to think what it must have been like to live a life like that. She thought her life would be like that as well now, as everyone in her world was dead. But maybe, just maybe, she could live here and be there for these people.

All three were trying to think how it might feel to live after losing everything and imagine losing all hope and feel all alone in the world.

Harry on the other hand, was extremely happy to know that everyone that he loved was alive in this world, but he did not want them to live like that. He knew exactly how it felt to be left all alone in the world without any hope. He was thinking back to his own life and remembering how he missed his parents whilst growing up. How he always wished for someone to rescue him and come for him and be his ray of hope. Then coming to Hogwarts and entering his parents' world but still feeling alone. Then finally meeting Sirius and Remus and having a sense of belonging for the first time in his life and then their deaths and how after Sirius' death he didn't want to fight anymore. How he was afraid that if he let anyone close to him anymore, then Voldemort would target and kill them. How he had accepted that he was born to live alone.

He felt he knew how his parents, the Weasleys, Sirius and Remus must have felt and how they must still be feeling. He felt miserable and wanted to do something for them. However he knew one thing, that if he told them that he was Harry and how he was saved then they will be feeling guilty about not being able to do the same for 'their Harry'.

He did not know what to do, or how to reduce their pain. But he knew one thing for sure; he will not let them suffer anymore. He will take away their fear of losing someone close to them. Even if it killed him. He will not let them die and try his best to make life easier, especially for his parents, Sirius and Remus. He will do what he could not for his parents, Sirius and Remus in his own world. He will protect them with all that he has. He will use any and all the means available at his disposal to destroy Voldemort.