"Slytherin?!" exclaimed Harry. "What's he playing at? You're a Gryffindor!"
"I know," said Sirius. "The rest of my family was in Slytherin, and I was proud to not be like them! Maybe I'll teach, but I don't want anything to do with Slytherin!"
"You're good at potions?" asked Hermione, clearly curious.
He shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah. Professor Slughorn, he was the teacher at the time, always said I had a gift for it. I got an 'O' in both my O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. in the subject. Before I was arrested, I used to make Moony's potion for him."
"Wolfsbane?" asked Hermione.
"Yeah." He sighed. "I guess I might as well accept the teaching job. I don't have anything else lined up, and it'll give me a chance to put the two of you in detention. But I won't take that Head of Slytherin position!"
"Maybe you should," said Hermione, causing both Harry and Padfoot to stare at her. She looked determinately at them and said, "Think about it. A child would display ambition and possibly evil potential to the sorting hat, so it puts them into Slytherin. Then, under Snape's guidance, they learn to achieve their goals through cheating, lying, and favoritism. Their head of house always looked the other way when they did wrong. Harry you remember what happened when you got in that fight with Malfoy last January. Snape took points from me for telling him that Malfoy called me a mudblood! Maybe with a head of house who won't let them get away with that sort of thing, those kids may turn out better. Sirius, you can even tell them about Azkaban, the place many of them seem to be headed. I think Snape was teaching every one of them to be Death Eaters!"
Harry was agreeing with her logic, but then was confused by a term she'd used. "What's a Death Eater? I know you called Malfoy the son of one, but I don't know what it means."
Sirius answered the question. "Voldemort's supporters. And she's right to call Lucius Malfoy one. He was part of Voldemort's inner circle. He was arrested, his family donated a large amount of gold to the ministry, and he was released, claiming he was being controlled. All those idiots had to do was roll up his sleeve to see his Dark Mark, but those imbeciles that took his bribe wouldn't allow it!"
Harry smiled, "It would be worth it just to see the look on Draco Malfoy's face when he finds out my guardian is his head of house."
Sirius took a deep breath. "Harry, do you really want me to take that position?"
"Yes. I think so."
"Alright!" Sirius said. "Now let's go to that muggle electronics store I've heard so much about."
-
Sirius apparated Harry near the store, and then came back to apparate Hermione. When they arrived, the salesperson they'd previously had recognized Harry and Hermione immediately from their previous purchase of about half the store. "Hello again. May I help you?"
"Yes," said Hermione. "Would you mind showing us your laptop computers?"
After spending a few minutes looking, Harry picked out the best one they had. It had a twenty inch screen with the latest graphics card, etc. Sirius decided that since he was teaching, he'd get one of his own, provided the two kids would show him how to use it. The one Harry had picked out cost a few hundred pounds more than Hermione's parents had specified she could spend, so she was going to settle for a lesser one until Harry insisted that he make up the difference and had the salesperson split the cost into two receipts - one that was how much her parents wanted to spend, and the other was the rest of the cost, which was to be added to Harry's bill. When he went to pay for it, Sirius said, "I'm paying for that, along with my computer," and proceeded to pull muggle money out of his wallet.
After they'd apparated back to Potter Manor, Hermione said, "I'm going to charm my laptop now, and I want both of you to pay attention because I want you to charm your own."
"Come on Hermione, you know your a lot smarter than us," said Harry. "What if we mess them up?"
She rolled her eyes at them, "You won't mess them up if you just pay attention."
Sirius said, "I don't know anything about how to work a computer."
"You don't need to understand everything. Just do what I do." They all set their laptops side by side at the table, and the two males imitated exactly what Hermione did. The result was that all three laptops were working perfectly, with a magical battery and Internet connection just like Harry's PCs. After she'd inspected them and put them on their private network, she said, "See, I knew you could both do it. Now let's put a few library books onto the network."
"That reminds me," said Sirius, "I was gonna give you the books on becoming animals today."
Hermione then performed a spell that copied the contents of some of the books from the library, including Lily Potter's book on charming muggle plugs as well as the book on animagi, onto the main computer on the fifth floor so that any of the laptops could access it. That way, they could easily be searched through for keywords, instead of visually scanning page after page. They immediately tested it with the laptops, all of which had easy, fast access to the books.
After they'd copied about a dozen books, Dobby popped up and said, "Harry Potter, Sirius Black, and Hermione Granger, Dobby is reminding you that it is lunch time. What is you wanting?"
Hermione spoke first. "Pizza, with pepperoni and sausage."
"And extra cheese," said Harry.
Sirius grinned, "And Brussels sprouts."
"No!" said a distraught Harry. "Dobby, I'm your master and I say to NEVER EVER, under any circumstances are you to put brussels sprouts on a pizza! Is that clear?"
Dobby bowed to the ground, "Yes Harry Potter sir." He then turned to Sirius, who was laughing along with Hermione. "Dobby is sorry sir, but Dobby cannot put brussels sprouts on the pizza."
After lunch, Hermione charmed both printers to work magically and print on parchment. When she was finished, she said, "Harry."
"Yeah?"
"When are you going to talk to Professor Dumbledore about that prophesy your mother mentioned?"
"I believe Lily said to do it immediately," said Sirius.
"I guess we should," said Harry. "Maybe we can floo his office to see if he's there. I'd like both of you with me."
"All right," said Sirius. Hermione nodded in agreement.
"Great," said Harry. "Padfoot, could you floo him while I get the letter?"
Sirius said, "Don't you know how to summon it yet?"
"Er," said Harry, "I think that's a fourth year spell."
Hermione looked exasperated. "Honestly. Pay attention to me." She pointed her wand toward the stairs and said, "Accio, Mrs. Potter's letter." Sirius made the call while Harry watched for the letter.
Almost as soon as the letter floated into Hermione's waiting hand, Sirius called out to them, "Come on guys. He says we can floo to his office now."
Within just a few minutes, Harry found himself falling forward from Professor Dumbledore's fireplace. Fortunately, he'd remembered to remove his glasses first, so they didn't fall down and break.
As Harry put his glasses back on, the aged Headmaster said, "Welcome Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, Miss Granger. What can I do for you? I trust you've seen today's Daily Prophet, as well as my offer of employment."
"Yes we have," said Harry, "And we're very glad you kept your promise."
"And after careful consideration," said Sirius, "I've decided to accept your offer."
"Splendid!" said Dumbledore."I must say that I am curious as to why you wanted me to be the head of Slytherin house, but that's not the reason we're here."
"The reason I chose you is so that you can try to undo the damage Severus has done in the way he has taught the Slytherins."
Hermione smiled. "I knew that was the reason. I tried to tell him."
Dumbledore chuckled, "You really are the brightest witch of your age. Now Sirius, you said there was a different reason you wanted to see me."
"Yes Albus," he said, "There is. Harry has recently come into possession of a letter that his mother wrote before she died."
Harry could swear that the headmaster's complexion paled a bit at this statement. "Have you?"
"Yes," said Harry. "It says that Voldemort wanted to kill me because of a prophesy that was given to you."
Dumbledore's ears became a bit pink.
"Lily said that Harry should demand for you to show him the prophesy in your pensieve immediately," added Sirius.
"Sirius," said Dumbledore in a grandfatherly way. "I believe that Harry is too young to be burdened with something like that."
"He was also too young to have his parents murdered," said Sirius. "He was also too young to be left on the doorstep of people who hated him!"
"Professor," said Hermione politely. "If this prophesy has to do with Harry, then he has the right to see it."
"Yeah," agreed Harry. "And I want the people most important to me, Sirius and Hermione, to see it too!"
"This is a secret that cannot be allowed to fall into the wrong hands," said Dumbledore sternly.
"All of us knows occlumency," answered Hermione. "Will you tell Harry what he has the right to know or not?"
Dumbledore took a deep breath and resignedly put his wand to his forehead as he got up and opened the black cabinet where his pensieve was located. He pulled out the silvery string of memory from his mind while Harry watched. He was very confused but didn't want to look stupid, so he said nothing.
When Dumbledore had put the memory into the pensieve, he said, "This prophesy was given on a cold, wet night, fourteen years ago, in a room above the bar at the Hog's Head Inn. I had gone there to see an applicant for the post of Divination teacher, though it was against my inclination to allow the subject of Divination to continue at all. The applicant, however, was the great-great-granddaughter of a very famous, very gifted Seer, and I thought it common politeness to meet her. I was disappointed. It seemed to me that she had not a trace of the gift herself. I told her, courteously I hope, that I did not think she would be suitable for the post. I turned to leave. Just as I was about to exit the room, she turned to me and gave a real prophesy." He then prodded the silvery substance in the pensieve with his wand. They watched at the figure of Sybil Trelawney rose up and spoke to them.
"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."
The slowly revolving Professor Trelawney sank back into the silver mass below and vanished.
The silence within the office was absolute, until Professor Dumbledore spoke. "A death eater overheard the first part of the prophesy, but was interrupted when others caught him listening at the door. Voldemort's reaction to this news was to try to kill you.
"Harry couldn't have been the only baby born at the end of July," said Sirius. "Why does it have to be him?"
"Indeed, there was one other child born at the end of July to parents who had escaped Voldemort three times. His name is Neville Longbottom."
Harry gasped, "Neville?"
"Yes," continued Dumbledore. "He was born on July 30th. However, Voldemort chose you and marked you, thus making you the one with the power to vanquish him." He then pointed at Harry's scar. Dumbledore sighed, "I had hoped to wait a few years to give you this burden."
Hermione said, "But if he's going to have to fight Voldemort, he should have as much time to prepare as possible. He's already had to face Voldemort. That prophesy didn't seem to say who would win! That means that if Harry's not properly trained the next time he faces Voldemort, he could die, and the prophesy would be fulfilled!" By this time Hermione was in tears. "Were you planning on waiting until Harry died to reveal this prophesy?"
"I suppose I should have told him about it earlier," said Dumbledore, looking older than ever. "I just couldn't bring myself to lay this burden on him while he's so young. Harry asked me why Voldemort tried to kill him after his first fight with him, but I refused to answer." He shook his head and said, "Harry, can you accept an old man's apology?"
"I guess I can," said Harry, "This is very overwhelming. But Hermione's right, if I'm gonna have to face Tom again, I'll need to start training soon."
"Maybe Sirius and Remus can help you there," suggested Dumbledore. Sirius nodded and Dumbledore continued. "They can start training you this summer and continue during the school year. When they feel they've trained you as much as they can, perhaps in a few years, I'll start training you."
Hermione said, "If I'm gonna be Harry's girlfriend, I think I should be trained as well in case Harry gets attacked while we're together."
This caused Harry to look at her in a way she immediately recognized. Before he spoke she yelled, "Don't you DARE try to break up with me over this!"
Harry put up his hands in surrender. "Ok, ok. It was just a thought."
"You should keep your loved ones close Harry, and not push them away," said Dumbledore.
"He's right, pup," said Sirius
"Alright, sorry," said Harry. "I doubt I'd have been able to go through with it anyway."
"Well," said Sirius. "This has certainly been...educational. I think it's time we went back home. See you next term, Albus."
"Goodbye," the headmaster said.
Hermione walked up to the fireplace, threw some floo powder in it, said, "Diagon Lily," and disappeared in a flash of green flames.
Dumbledore chuckled. "I believe Miss Granger mispronounced her destination."
"Actually sir," said Harry, "That's the password for Potter Manor."
"But don't try it without our invitation," said Sirius. "No one can floo into the house unless we've set the security system to let them in."
"And we've allowed very few people access to the house," added Harry."Ingenious," said Dumbledore approvingly. "Anybody overhearing would have made the same mistake I did. I guess Potter Manor really is a safe place.
❾¾ ❾¾❾¾❾¾ ❾¾❾¾❾¾
"Within a few minutes, they were all back at Potter Manor. Hermione hugged Harry and said, "This must be hard for you, knowing you've got to face him."
Harry shrugged. "It was a shock, but truthfully, it's not much of a surprise. I've already faced Tom three times – Once when I was a baby, once when I was eleven, and once when I was twelve. If that prophesy Trelawney gave at the end of last year is true, then Tom's going to come back, so I'd probably have had to face him again. At least this time, I know I at least have a chance. Hopefully before then I'll have found this 'power that the Dark Lord knows not.' At least now that I know about it, I can try to prepare."
"We'll help you any way we can," said Sirius, "but for now, we've been invited to have dinner with the Grangers."