Chapter 84: A Difficult Decision
Remus was beginning to put together the pieces of the puzzle in his mind. So many little things were falling into place now. He was amazed that he hadn't spotted it before. With a touch of envy in his voice, he said wistfully, "How long have you two been bonded?"
Annabelle's confused voice rang out, "Bonded?"
John's heart leapt into his throat upon hearing Annabelle's question. His discomfort only grew when Sirius spoke up.
"They're too young to be bonded, Remus." When neither of the teens moved to deny, or clarify, anything, Sirius slumped into a chair and mumbled, "Married at fourteen, Lily is gonna kill me."
Hermione and Harry cringed when they heard what Sirius had mumbled. Their plans for breaking this to everyone gently went up in smoke like one of Neville's potions.
Harry forestalled any more discussion on their marriage by saying, "Dumbledore wants me back at Hogwarts pretty badly. My guess is that if the Portkey didn't work, Fawkes would teleport me back. What do you think I should do?"
In all of the excitement, everyone had forgotten about the Headmaster. Annabelle could see that her husband was going to need some time to come to grips with everything. Turning to face the two teens, she said in her authoritative parent voice, "Please be safe and you will both return soon so we can talk about this bond and marriage later." She stepped over and gave each of them a hug before returning to her equally shocked husband.
Remus broke free of his stupor and said, "Harry, I think that you should go back in a few minutes. Let the three of us return to Dumbledore's office first. That way we are all there when you show up."
Harry glanced at everyone and hugged Hermione before stepping back to let Dobby bring them back to Hogwarts. He waited in uncomfortable silence with Hermione's parents for five minutes before he drew his wand and stepped over to the Portkey. With a flick of his wrist, he incinerated the letter turned Portkey so no one would touch it by accident.
Turning to face his in-laws, he said, "I love Hermione and I would do anything to protect her. Thank you for being here for me; this was the first place that I could think of that felt safe." Facing the Phoenix, he asked, "Are you ready to take me back?"
Fawkes trilled and launched himself into the air above Harry.
Harry reached up and grabbed a handful of tail feathers and they were gone in a flash of flames leaving behind two very confused, shocked, and concerned Grangers.
Voldemort was making his way through the Ministry without any opposition. No one was looking for Tom Riddle, Jr. so he was able to move about unopposed.
There was only a skeleton crew on duty this evening due to the Triwizard Tournament's final task. That was why no one noticed a lone figure entering the Department of Mysteries on a mission.
He knew of the existence of the Hall of Prophecy, deep within the Department of Mysteries, thanks to Rookwood. He had never been able to visit the Hall before because of the heightened security due to his reign of terror. Now that everyone believed him to be dead, things had gotten lax. Voldemort saw no one during his casual walk into the Department of Mysteries.
The total lack of security made his task that much easier. He knew exactly where the Prophecy Sphere was located and when he arrived at the shelf, he reverently removed the tiny glass orb.
The unearthly voice that emanated from the sphere was both chilling and exciting at the same time. 'Finally, I will know the entire contents of the prophecy.' He thought to himself excitedly. When the prophecy was completely recited, the sphere went dark and he carefully placed it back on the shelf in the exact spot.
Voldemort didn't know whether to be angry at himself or at Severus for not hearing the entire prophecy. He had inadvertently marked Harry Potter as his equal, something that he firmly believed he didn't have before that fateful night in Godric's Hollow. The troubling part was that the boy now had a power that he didn't know. They might be magical equals now but experience was still on his side.
If the whole situation wasn't so serious, he would have broken down laughing at the idea of Sybil Trelawney giving an actual prophecy. Unfortunately, he had made it an active one by attempting to murder the Potter boy before gathering all of the facts.
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