บท 354: The Prefects' Bathroom

The prefects' bathroom was beautifully decorated; there was a bath large enough to be called a pool in the centre of the room, carved out of flawless white marble and surrounded by differently labelled taps. Soap, shampoo, conditioner, bath oils, bath salts, bath bombs, you name it, the bath had it; and in all different sorts of fragrances. On the side of the room were some bathroom stalls, and at the end of the room was a mural of a mermaid bashfully hiding behind a boulder.

Now, the three were supposed to be mature enough to be named prefects, so surely, they would be mature enough to take a bath together without anything embarrassing happening, right…? Even so, Hermione's and Oleandra's cheeks began turning pink, while Ron's face and ears began turning a shade of deep crimson.

The three grabbed towels and headed for the bathroom stalls. Oleandra locked herself in and undressed herself with a wandless Quick-Change spell, before wrapping herself in the towel and exiting the stall. She was the first to emerge from her stall, so she busied herself playing with the taps to see what kinds of soaps would emerge from them, resulting in the crystal-clear water of the bath quickly turning bubbly and opaque.

Oleandra stepped inside the warm water and wrapped her towel around her head to stop it from getting it wet. She then closed her eyes and relaxed; tension had been accumulating in her shoulders as of late.

Maybe she'd try to sneak Astoria and Daphne in here later, so that they could take a bath together, like when they were younger. And maybe Tracey would be interested in coming as well… Oleandra's face reddened in self-inflicted embarrassment.

She then sank her head into the water until her mouth was submerged, before blowing a few bubbles of air into the bath to take her mind off Tracey…

Blub, blub, blub…

Oleandra stopped blowing bubbles as soon as she heard the bathroom stalls swinging open, and she sneaked a peek at her fellow prefects. Hermione had a very slender and elegant figure, but the thin and gangly Ron wasn't much to look at, though he was a good head and a half taller than Hermione.

The two Gryffindors stepped into the bath and put their towels on their heads, just as Oleandra had.

There, nothing to be ashamed at; you couldn't even see through the water thanks to all of the bubbles!

Except Ron kept his eyes down, firmly fixed on where his toes ought to be.

"W-well," said Hermione, blushing slightly. "This is nice."

"This is nice," Oleandra agreed.

Ron was now examining a bath bomb perched on the side of the bath with great interest.

"So," said Hermione with renewed determination. "Regarding the Defence Against the Dark Arts study club—"

"We're still doing that?" Oleandra asked in surprise. "But Umbridge knows about the prophecy, she and Dumbledore went to the Ministry together— They know the Dark Lady's coming and that Voldemort's still alive, so surely she'll start teaching us for real now?"

Oleandra had all but given up hope; if the Ministry believed a true threat was coming, then surely, they would have to give up the ridiculous notion that Dumbledore was building an army of students to rise against them?

"My dad and Percy work at the Ministry, and they write to me sometimes about what's going on in there," said Ron darkly. "The prophecy didn't change anything; Fudge still thinks Dumbledore is after him. According to dad, the Ministry's going to be cracking down even harder."

Oleandra's jaw dropped open in shock. How did this make any sense!? The prophecy clearly indicated that Voldemort was back and that Dumbledore hadn't been lying, so why did they still think Dumbledore was trying to overthrow the government?

"It's because of the dead will tread the land once more line," Hermione explained. "If you look at it from a certain point of view, Voldemort coming back from the dead in the future doesn't conflict with the Ministry's stance that Voldemort is dead right now."

Umbridge had clearly observed that this latest prophecy had taken Dumbledore by surprise. Even if the prophecy happened to confirm Dumbledore's story, it didn't change the fact that Fudge still believed that Dumbledore had been plotting his downfall all this time…

Which he hadn't— as far as Oleandra knew, that is.

"I mean, that sort of makes sense," said Oleandra weakly. "I suppose they're trying to save face by doing this… But what could be worse than Umbridge?"

"Don't jinx it!" said Ron warningly… "Whoops!"

Ron had accidentally dropped the bath bomb, causing a veritable eruption of multicoloured bubbles to explode all around him. For a moment, all Oleandra could see of him were his flailing arms.

"Fudge's not even half as scared of an immature Dark Lady as he is of a full-powered Dark Lord," Hermione explained. "From what I understood of Percy's letter to Ron, the Ministry seems to think Voldemort's eternally enduring reign is conditional to the Dark Lady's rise, so if that can be prevented…"

"That's not how prophecies work!" said Oleandra, aghast. "The Ministry will only be making things worse by interfering!"

The thing with prophecies is that they have a tendency to be self-fulfilling. The more one struggles to change fate, the more one's actions would lead to the prophecy's actualization, which is why the contents of prophecies aren't usually revealed to the greater public, or even to those in power.

The future wasn't set in stone, but having ignorant people causing a panic was not helpful!

Let us take for example Trelawney's first prophecy; though at this point, only a few people had fully heard it: Dumbledore and handful of Unspeakables. Snape and Voldemort also knew of its contents, but only its first half: 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.

In 1981, Voldemort had been at the height of his power; in his eyes, nothing but fate could have stopped him from achieving his ultimate goal. When Snape had brought him word of the prophecy, he had, of course, wanted to nip this future problem in the bud.

And so, on the night of Hallowe'en 1981, Voldemort had gone to kill the two baby boys to whom the prophecy could have applied, but as the entire world learned shortly afterwards, he was punished for it, when the Killing Curse he aimed at baby Harry rebounded in his face.

The rest of the prophecy went like so: …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 problem was that Voldemort had tried to do things in the wrong order, by trying to kill Harry before marking him. For the prophecy to remain true, Murphy's Law had gone into overdrive: anything that could have gone wrong for Voldemort had gone wrong.

In an uncharacteristic act of pity, he had attempted to spare the Muggleborn Lily Potter for Snape's sake. Had he simply killed her right away, she would never have obtained the opportunity to give her life for her son's; a final act of self-sacrifice that had ritually invoked an Ancient Protective Charm on baby Harry.

When Voldemort had finally attempted to kill the boy, this Charm had reflected his Killing Curse back onto him, leaving Harry completely unharmed, save for a mark on his forehead: the famous lightning bolt scar…