The Prophecy of the Chosen One
James stayed standing between Lily and the apparition of Mopsus, his arms spread out to keep her covered, eyes wide behind his thick-framed glasses, the ghost reflected in them clear as day. Lily clutched onto his shoulders from behind, for he was still a bit unsteady on his feet and she didn't want to see him fall down or anything of that sort... James held his wand out before him, aimed right at the ghost of Divination Teachers Past...
"What do you want with us?" he demanded.
The apparition was a strange sight indeed, made up of all the bits of clockwork pieces, like a jigsaw puzzle. If you looked close enough, you could see each individual cog and wheel creating the features of his face and arms and torso, trailing off into the smoky, billowing curtain in the stone archway. Mopsus seemed to stare not only at them but through them and James felt utterly exposed. Lily did, too, he could tell, because she seemed to shrink behind him and her fingers were tight 'round his shoulder blades.
Then Mopsus opened his mouth and though his lips did not move, his voice came from within him, as though this version of him were nothing more than a sort of haunting intercom, and he spoke the following prophecy:
"The Dark Lord will rise to great heights --
A terrible star in the pitch black of night...
None shall deny his greatness!
But Greater Power exists --
The Dark Lord shall choose his equal
From two that could defeat him
Both will rise from the ashes of those
Who have thrice defied him.
Two lives laid down in love - and -
Two descend to the depths of darkness
Madness... Madness...
The Dark Lord will rise and fall and rise
Like the coming of the tide
But the one chosen shall bring hope
To the darkness that the Dark Lord shines in
The Chosen One shall bring hope
To the darkness..."
The words echoed in the silence that followed, heavy and still. Lily's breath was the only thing that James could hear and he realized he was holding his own breath and quickly took a large inhalation of air.
"Who is it?" Lily asked, "Who is the Chosen One?"
But the mouth of the apparition of Mopsus closed... and for a moment, there was absolute, ringing silence... a calmness that seemed to vibrate... and then there was an actual ringing - a horrible sound that seemed to shake the very muscles under James's skin. And then the apparition burst. Bright light - brighter than any James or Lily had ever seen before - shooting out from amongst the cogs and wheels of the time pieces and with a burst - the light spreading to every corner of the room, making James clench his eyes shut and Lily bury her face in his back. Cogs and wheels and little clock hands and shards of glass from clock faces, numbers, and little even a wooden cuckoo bird flew about the room, stinging James as they struck him and making Lily shriek...
Then suddenly it all went dark.
James opened his eyes. The apparition was gone.
Lily was crying.
James stood, hesitant to believe he really was gone, staring at the place where he'd hovered over them, then, finally, he turned around, catching her up in his arms. "It's okay. It's alright, Lily." He pulled her close to him and she let him, her cheek pressing against his chest as he cupped his arms 'round her shoulders, "C'mon. We gotta get out of here. We gotta find Moody... and Pete, we gotta warn Peter..." But she shook her head against his chest. "Are you alright, love?" he asked her gently. She shook her head again. He sighed and tightened his arms about her, clutching her to his chest. "I'll just hold you 'til you are, then, okay?"
Lily nodded against him, her heart in her throat. Mopsus's apparition had been absolutely terrifying; worse, she felt, than even Voldemort himself... She couldn't seem to stop the tears that were flowing from her eyes, it had just been so terrible - that awful man's face, his awful voice, the way it had sounded odd - like a voice within a voice as he spoke... Later, she would talk of it as though it hadn't alarmed her even the slightest, but right then, in the moment, she needed strength and James Potter's arms were stronger than she would have thought them to be. It was comforting, too, that he smelled of trees and deep woods. Though she worried that he wouldn't ever let her forget the fact that she'd turned to him to cry like this, she couldn't bare to turn away - not yet. Just a few minutes more, she told herself...
Finally, after what felt a good deal like an eternity, James whispered, "We should go."
Lily nodded and gingerly pulled away from him. She started to sweep her hand over her nose but James produced a handkerchief and, as gentle as could be, he gently wiped her eyes with it. He stared into the green of them for a moment and brought his fingers to her chin, "You're alright now, yeah?" he asked.
Lily nodded.
"You're absolutely certain, love?"
"Yes," she answered.
A playful spark lit his eyes, "You're certain, Evans, beyond shadow of a doubt, that you're positively, absolutely, completely, and totally alright, yeah?"
Lily couldn't help but laugh, "Yes, Potter, for Merlin's sake!"
James nodded, "I just want to make sure. I don't want you to go on accusing me of not making certain you were well before I made you leave this bloody side show. Now, c'mon, we've got to go and --" he stopped mid-sentence, looking at the archway with its flickering curtain a moment. "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" Lily asked, confused.
James hands dropped away from her arms completely, and took a couple steps toward the little archway. "There's... there's something in there. Somebody's in there. Talking. Don't you hear that?"
Lily listened closely... and then she did, she did hear it, and so she slunk a bit closer, and together they stood before it... James peered in, squinting against the smokey, fluttering appearance of it.
Lily's voice was quiet, a breath, "Odd... I hear quite a lot of voices, don't you?"
James nodded.
"Well... there isn't really enough room in there for all the people," she muttered, frowning.
"P'raps it's like the TARDIS and it's bigger on the inside?" James murmured, but even as he said it, he knew that wasn't at all what they were hearing. "C'mon." He took her hand and quickly pulled her out of the room, even as she was becoming quite transfixed by the stone archway and the weird sounds coming from it's depths. Lily looked back over her shoulder at it, as though wishing she could step through the curtain and see what was on the other side... "I don't like that thing," James said when they got into the corridor and Lily's trance with it seemed to break.
Lily nodded. Then, as though she realized she was letting him hold her hand, she pulled her palm back and walked along, rubbing her wrist gently, silence falling between them. She flushed.
James glanced over at her.
"I'm sorry, by the way," she said, holding her chin up and steady.
"Sorry for what?" he asked, confused.
"For... for all that... hugging... and blubbering and all," Lily replied, "Bit like that first year train again, huh?" she laughed - though it was in a bit of a forced manner.
James shrugged, "It was bloody terrifying. Nobody could blame you. I very nearly cried myself."
"Did you?" she asked hopefully.
James shook his head, "Well... truthfully... not exactly, no."
"Fought more frightening on your holidays?" she asked. "With the -- what was it? A chimera?"
James smirked, "I forgot about the chimera."
"Yes, a chimera and a whole pack of werewolves and dragons -- just some of the myriad of fantastic creatures you've claimed to have battled on these grounds."
James smirked not noticing Lily's face paled as she remembered what she'd wanted Potter for in the first place. She suddenly leaped forward, stepping before him, "Merlin, I can't believe - Mopsus made me forget -- James -- Remus is in trouble and we have to help him!!"
"What?? Remus? What's happened?" James looked confused by the sudden change of topic and pace as she turned, picked up her speed, and started running along as fast as she possibly could. James was at a jog alongside her and he glanced at the window, at the pale silver moonlight coming in through the glass from the full, round orb outside. "Has he escaped the Shack?" James's voice was nervous.
"No, he's been taken to Grimmauld Place and the Order needs us! To save him - and Sirius, too!" Lily looked over her shoulder, "C'mon, Potter, keep up. Peter's probably already gone through the floo with the others!"
James felt sick. "What?! Bloody hell. And we've been upstairs wasting time listening to that old, dead muppet prattle on?!" Suddenly, in light of Sirius and Remus and quite possibly Peter and all the Order being in danger, the prophetic words of Mopsus seemed far off and meaningless to James. It wasn't as though it had anything to do with him, really... Sirius, Remus and Peter... well they had everything to do with him! They were three of the most important people in his entire life...
They both ran for McGonagall's office, both knowing that using her floo connection was the only way they could possibly travel that far as quickly as they needed to. James skid to a stop so that Lily nearly ran into him as they approached the door -- McGonagall was coming down the hallway, carrying a tiny goat with a Hufflepuff scarf 'round it's neck, her eyes turned downward at the struggling little creature in her arms. "Quick," James said, "Quick - quick." He pushed Lily through the door of the office and rushed after her, pulling the door shut behind them.
"This is mad!" Lily hissed. "We're going to be caught!"
Ignoring this statement, James grabbed the tin of floo powder and chucked a fistful into the fireplace. "Wand at the ready, Evans," he said, grabbing onto her elbow and dragged her to the very edge of the floo. "You've got to be the one to say where we're off to, seeing as you're the one that's seen the parchment. And then we have to move together at exactly the same time. Ready? Where are we going, love?"
She felt anything but 'ready', really. But she took a deep breath just as the door handle was starting to turn behind them. "Number 12 Grimmauld Place!" Lily said.
James hastened to tug her into the grate and with a pop - they were gone. And only just in time.
McGonagall pushed open her office door and stepped through, carrying the goat on her hip. McGonagall carried the little goat over to the little table in the corner and put it down. "Alright, Mr. Finnegan, let's get you turned right." She drew her wand and gently tapped the goat on the head, "Hircum reversus," she said.
With a poof - there sat Bran Finnegan, a first year Hufflepuff boy with a curly head of flaming red hair, who sat awkwardly, looking about with residual panic in his eyes.
"Feeling better, Mr. Finnegan?" McGonagall asked.
Bran nodded, wide-eyed. "Yes, though I am a bit disappointed I didn't try eating a tin can while I had the chance!" Bran said.
McGonagall stared on at him in surprise... and then a flicker of concern crawled onto her face and she turned, walking over to the fireplace. The tin that held the floo powder had been moved from where it usually belonged to the desk. She stared at it, holding her wand up over the tin. Then her eyes went to the little tea cup on it's shelf. "You may go, Mr. Finnegan," she said thickly. "And close the door behind you."
"Yes Professor," Finnegan said, hurrying away.
Professor McGonagall looked at the floo, then waved her wand and a ghostly cat appeared beside her. "Go and tell Alastor Moody to come quickly..." she murmured and she looked at the fireplace as the cat ran off and leaped out through the window.