Chapter 9: Born of Snake, Marked by Light

After he had related his 'history' to Remus unsurprisingly Sirius backed off with the pranks and the boys seemed to become protective of their 'youngest' member.

Harry found their protection laughable but at the same time he was honored by it, as it showed that they were beginning to accept him as one of their own.

Once Sirius and Remus left Harry usually alternated his time between studying in the Potter's library and playing with his father.

James had been surprised at how skilled his cousin was on a broom, but loved every minute of match play since Harry presented him with a challenge. Harry on the other hand was holding back, rather enjoying being able to watch James fly about.

He finally understood now why people always told him that he flew like his father. James was an absolute natural in the air, and flew with the ease of an eagle. Many of his moves and his flying style was reminiscent of the skill his own son displayed.

As much as James gripped about school work, Harry was pleasantly surprised when the older boy finished his summer work within days of the departure of his two friends.

Mid-way through August Harold had a meeting with the headmaster and decided to take the boys along so that James could show Harry the ropes. Harry wasn't fooled in the least about the whole 'pre-tour' deal, but decided to play along after all he had been expecting it.

On the 16th the three males flooed over to the headmaster's office before lunch, as they had been invited to dine before the meeting would commence.

"Ah Harold good of you to come, please come in." Albus smiled slightly and motioned the man over towards his desk, standing as he did so.

"My pleasure Albus." Harold said walking over to the older man and shaking his hand.

"James, Harry it's good to see you as well. Lemon drop?"

Both Harry and James took a few (James considerably more than a few) and followed the two adults out of the office and down the stairs. On the way to the Great Hall James pointed out doors to his cousin and gave him advice on how to remember what classroom was which.

Once in the Great Hall Harry was surprised to see many teachers at the main table and hesitatingly treaded after his Uncle Harold. McGonagall stared at him curiously, but her eyes narrowed quickly as she caught site of James who grinned cheekily in return.

"Well fancy seeing you here Professor McGonagall!" James said in a smooth voice taking a seat beside of his professor.

"Indeed Mr. Potter, not shooting for detention, are we?"

James pretended to look shocked at the question.

"Professor I would never dream of gaining detention! Besides how is it fair to Sirius for me to have the opportunity of gaining more detentions than him if I start during the summer?"

Harold coughed sharply and stared pointedly at his son who just stared innocently back.

"Hello Minerva; how are you today?

McGonagall smiled slightly at the older man.

"Extremely well Harold and yourself?"

"Never been better Minerva. Harry come here please." Harold motioned the young boy over and smiled once Harry was standing beside of him.

Reaching down he placed a fond hand on the boy's shoulder.

"This is my cousin Harry Potter, he'll be attending Hogwarts this year."

McGonagall smiled slightly at the black haired child. Harry nodded shyly back and quickly took a seat next to James, Albus smiled at this display before taking a seat on the other side of his co-worker.

As the boy took a seat, Minerva mentally frowned for she had read in the Daily Prophet about a boy found nearly tortured to death by Death Eaters. As far as she knew Harold Potter did not have any Potter relatives. As she began to eat the hearty soup in front of her she promised to ask Albus about it later.

The two boys whispered to each other, and every so often James would point to something and begin to speak excitedly. During this time Harold was enjoying a very lively discussion with the new defense teacher, a young man named Xander Mutton. Mutton was a bit young for teaching, only being twenty two and all, but the boy did know his subject, and that's all that matters.

Harry ran the man's name over and over in his head trying to connect it to anything that he had heard/ learnt that could be negative. Drawing a blank he was satisfied that Mutton was not a Death Eater. The men's current topic of discussion was the rising number of werewolf attack on wizards and muggles alike.

"Well we can't just punish the whole werewolf population in general for the actions of a few!" Harold said hotly.

"I totally agree, but I fear that it will come to that."

James stopped whispering turning his attention to the loud conversation in interest.

Some of the other teacher could be heard murmuring in agreement at Harold's statement.

"Wouldn't oppressing a whole group of people in wizarding society only make the problem more pronounced? After all putting pressure on a closed container will only make it more likely to explode." Harry said calmly.

James looked at his smaller cousin seriously, an expression rarely seen on his youthful face.

Mutton peered down the table curiously, "Why would you say it's more pronounced?"

Harry barely even blinked before answering the offered question, "Well the general wizarding community fears that werewolves and vampires will side with Voldemort. Some of them will, just like there are some wizards and witches who will also. The only thing that is different between the two groups would be the fact that werewolves are cursed, a condition that they cannot help. If you punished both groups there would be a public outcry and possibly an attempted overthrow of the ministry. However if you punish someone simply because they are a werewolf you will cause them to feel even more negative to the community that already treats them as second citizens. Something that will have Voldemort clapping his hands in glee."

As Harry began to talk the rest of the conversations dies down and all listened curiously to the boy. Once he was finished many teachers were staring at him in amazement, for his precise logical assessment. Flitwick was smiling excitedly at the thought of having such an obviously intelligent student in his house.

"Then how would you propose to stop the attacks?" Professor Kettleburn asked in amusement at the boy.

"Well you can't really stop attacks totally from happening, but treating them like equal members of society will make them less likely to turn to Voldemort, or by simply educating the general public. From what I've been reading in the papers, the majority of the attacks occurred from people being outside in the woods on a full moon. Am Ii the only one here who finds that idea none to bright?"

Slughorn looked appalled at the direction of the conversation, werewolf rights were not his cup of tea.

"Werewolves are monsters…they do not deserve to be treated like you and me. Personally I think they should be drug out and executed."

A few agreements were heard among the table, but the majority of the teachers looked uneasy and distressed at such a statement. Harold also looked a bit angry at Slughorn's views.

"Really Horace, would you feel the same if you were the one afflicted?" Kettleburn asked in a tight voice.

"Yes I would, I would have the decency to finish myself off before I had the chance to terrorize the general public." The statement was said with conviction while the pudgy man's eyes flashed.

Angrily James turned back towards Harry with fire in his eyes, muttering under his breath.

"Why doesn't he save the world from listening to his stupidity by drowning himself in his cauldron?"

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Dumbledore was silent throughout the entire conversation, intent on listening to the boy. He was greatly surprised at the insight Harry held and the way he seemed to be advocating werewolf's rights, something that was not common in Britain. This fact alone interested the headmaster.

Horace on the other hand, Albus was less than impressed with. Dumbledore knew of his potion's master prejudices, but sadly they were those held by the wizarding world in general. Horace was a good man in his own way and a good potion's master, but the man was a bit obsessed with power.

James comment did not go unnoticed by the headmaster and Minerva as well, but both chose not to reprimand him for his words.

As Dumbledore expected since the year before James knew of Remus' condition, and by fault his other friends must as well. It warmed his heart to see the three young boys not reject their friend simply because of his condition. Remus was a very bright and kind boy; it would be terrible to harm him merely because of what he was once a month.

Albus turned his head slightly to look down the table at the smallest boy. Just when he thought that he knew something about the boy, Harry would totally surprise him.

Once lunch was over Harold dragged James off to go 'exploring' as Harold called it, while Dumbledore led Harry back to his office. James was not fooled in the least by his father's lame excuse, but decided to not push the issue since he figured what his cousin and the headmaster would be discussing.

James was absolutely horrified when Remus had told them what exactly had happened to his little cousin, and honestly he didn't quite know how to act around Harry any more. While to all appearances he was his usual joking self, inside he was always second guessing his words and his actions.

He just didn't want to cause Harry any more anguish than he had already been through. James could barely consider what he would do if he lost his parents, let alone be tortured by his family's murders. In short he just didn't know what to do about his cousin besides offering him as much protection as he could.

Harry followed the headmaster without question, sucking on a lemon drop as he did so. After Albus' death, Ron had found the headmaster's stash of candy and decided it would be a shame to waste sugary tooth enemies and passed out the sweets to the children of members of the Order. Obviously the majority of the candy was Lemon drops, and Harry hated to admit that he was hooked on the muggle candy; they were almost as good as Mars Bars and Blood mints.

Dumbledore hummed softly while he walked along the deserted hallways and gently probed the surface thoughts of his trailing companion with amusement. He had never in his wildest years thought to find a fellow Lemon Drop lover in Hogwarts. The boys' surface thoughts seemed to be occupied with different sweets and surprisingly many of them were muggle, a question to be answered in a few minutes no doubt.

After they entered his office and both were seated, Albus waited a few minutes allowing the boy to study his office to fulfill his curiosity, and Harry was doing just that.

He had never asked Dumbledore what the odd instruments were that lined the tables of the room before he had smashed them in his fifth year, and was extremely curious about them now. For all he knew they could help him in the up coming war with Riddle.

"Sir, if you don't mind my asking, what are those contraptions for?" Harry asked pointing to a table near the window.

Albus' eyes sparkled a bit in amusement for he knew that young Harry was curious, but he had never had a student actually ask him what things were in his office before.

Dumbledore stood from behind his desk and motioned the boy over to the table.

"This is an advanced tracker, currently it is not tracking any one…and this one," Albus pointed out a smoky globe that was sitting on a blue wooden base, "will inform me if there is an important prophecy read. Useful that one…now this one is the rarest out of the collection; it tells me information on certain dark persons in the wizarding community."

The conversation went on like that for a few minutes while Dumbledore pointed out items and vaguely explained their uses Harry would examine it intently and plot on ways that it could be useful in the war. Every time his eyes landed on the smoky globe he would get the urge to break the blasted thing and be done with it. Silently he placed his twitching fingers in his pocket to resist the temptation.

Once all the objects had been covered Albus motioned Harry back to his seat and then headed to his own chair.

"Now Harry I wish to ask you some questions. You do not need to answer any of them if you feel uncomfortable, but I must impress upon you the importance of your answers." Dumbledore said peering over his glasses at the staring child.

Harry slowly nodded, his eyes wide trying his best to look innocent, something he had picked up from the twins and worked rather well on his childish features.

Albus studied the boy for a long moment before he began his questioning.

"Harry can you tell me what happened the night you were abducted?"

The boy immediately paled and his eyes grew wide a bit fearful. Finally Harry let out a tentative nod and began his narrative of events.

While the boy talked Albus listened intently to the story, reading it on paper was one thing, but hearing the terrible words from the mouth of a child was another. He had never doubted that the boy had been held captive and tortured, but the vivid descriptions of certain cruelties nearly cost the headmaster his lunch.

Once Harry had finished the headmaster asked his next question, a question that had been troubling him greatly, "Do you have any idea why they would attack your guardians and kidnap you?"

At the question the boy looked down at his hands before looking out of the window intently thinking.

"No…none at all…my godparents were good people they never wronged a soul." Harry's face fell in sadness, "It's because of me…I'm cursed. Everyone that considers me family ends up dying."

The boy lowered his head to stare at his lap as two tears slowly made their way down his cheeks.

Before the tears could fall a musical cry was heard from the corner of the room and a flaming plumage took to the air flying over to the youngest member present.

Harry stared in surprise at two intense eyes that seemed to bore into him knowingly.

Understanding seemed to pass between the two as the headmaster watched on in interest. Slowly the boy relaxed and Fawkes broke eye contact chirping out notes that sounded both reassuring and scolding at the same time. A slight grin tugged at the boy's lips as he listened to the bird in amusement and a tentative hand brushed the bird's head carefully.

Albus was gob smacked, never before had Fawkes taken so well to a stranger, the bird hadn't even taken to HIM that well on their first meeting.

Pushing his familiar's odd behavior to the side he continued on with his questioning hoping to get some decent answers, "Harry that's a lovely ring you have there, if you don't mind an old man's curiosity where did you get it?"

Harry looked up from the phoenix inhabiting his lap to the eyes of the headmaster. Curious blue met innocent green.

"A family heirloom from my father's side of the family, or so I've been told."

Albus nodded his head at the answer for he had expected something of the sort.

"Would you mind if I examine it?"

At the proposed question Harry immediately stiffened, his hand stilled and he looked at the headmaster a bit defiantly.

"I'd rather not sir, I'm rather attached to it and would feel very uncomfortable with another person handle it, well that and the fact that I can only take it off to give to my first born heir."

The last part wasn't true, but Harry believed it would keep the headmaster from trying to get a close look at the ring, unless Dumbledore was going to encourage him to knock some bird up.

The older man looked intrigued at his answer and was about to ask another question when his office door burst open and in walked Harold pulling a squawking James along by the ear.

For a minute each party stared at the other until Harold cleared his throat and motioned James to the fireplace with a pointed glare. James quickly to a pinch of powder and flooed away, no doubt home to hide from his obviously angered father.

Harold took in Harry's tear stained cheeks and his eyes seemed to darken slightly.

"Sorry to cut this meeting sort Albus, but we really need to head home…a situation has arisen that I need to tend to."

Harry could tell from his 'uncle's' voice that whatever James had done to make Harold this mad would be interesting to hear about later.

"That is perfectly fine Harold, I completely understand." Albus said in a light voice and then turned his eyes back to Harry as Fawkes flew back to his perch and began to primp, "And thank you for sharing with me Harry, your answers have been most helpful."

Harry nodded his head shyly and quickly flooed home before his uncle did.

Albus sat pondering with his fingers steeped thinking about the little information that he had gleaned from the conversation. Not very much he had to admit. His suspicion was growing concerning the boy's heritage, but there was nothing he could prove at the moment, and even if his fears were confirmed the boy was still simply a boy.

Dumbledore was startled out of his thoughts as heavy footsteps were heard clanging up his stairs. Intently he peered through the door and let out a sigh of relief when he recognized the women as none other than Sylvie Wysoka, his current Divination's teacher.

Mrs. Wysoka was a true jewel of a find, although her situation was extremely sad. Sylvie originally came from Poland where she lived happily until her husband was killed in the Second World War, a great blow to the woman for she loved the man greatly. Albin Wysoka died fighting Grindelwald's forces as they wrecked havoic on a town where he lived. The man was stuck from behind, not by magical means, but by a simple muggle bullet which killed him instantly as it ripped through his skull.

Shortly after her husband's death Mrs. Wysoka moved to Britain for a quiet life, and years later she decided to apply for a teaching job at Hogwarts when she became bored with her isolation.

Although she truly was a gifted seer, she had yet to make any significant predictions concerning the future, usually she stuck to who was going to get the flu next, or what was going to be for dinner, things more relevant to her every day life.

The door banged open and the divinations professor walked into the room with a worried expression on her face.

"Something I can help you with my dear?" Albus asked curiously at the expression the lady wore.

"No headmaster…I saw myself here during this time…I don't know why, but I am meant to be here." The sentence was said with a slight accent and in a perfectly calm way.

"Then by all means please make yourself comfortable." Dumbledore said in interest as he indicated a plush armchair in front of his desk.

The small lady took a seat and crossed her hands in her lap, seemingly waiting for something to happen, and suddenly something did happen.

Her face seem to change instantly from confusion to a blank mask and her eyes rolled up in the back of her head, giving the appearance blindness as her eyes clouded over.

A rasping voice broke the air and words poured forth from the parted lips.

"The lion of the earth has been born again,

Snake beware for revenge doth he take.

Blood of the father and mother bend

Serpent and King unite in kith and kin.

The fight already won begins anew

With reprisal from the savior and

By the One, Death of the fiend be pursued.

Born to those now dead and raised by

Those no longer, he shall bring early justice

Before it's time, to the land of his kin.

Granted by Fate, chosen by gods

He will create a new age of wit.

The lion has come! Look for the one

Born of snake and marked by light!"

The voice cut off with a gasp and Sylvie's head lolled forward on to her chest.

Albus sat in shock at what he just heard…a prophecy? A prophecy of the downfall of Voldemort? Quickly Dumbledore rounded the desk to check on his fellow professor, but before he even touched her, her head snapped up and she glanced curiously around the room.

"Sylvie are you feeling well?"

"Yes perfectly fine Dumbledore…and since I have no recollection of what I just did I imagine I made a prediction?" The lady slowly sat up in her chair and began to rub her eyes as they seemed unnaturally dry to her.

Albus stared at her, weighing or not the benefits of telling her or not.

"Yes."

"Very well, just making sure." Mrs. Wysoka seemed perfectly content with the fact, considering she had never been known of making significant predictions before.

"My dear Sylvie…would you like to know the prophecy?"

The small lady seemed to consider it for a moment before shaking her head to the negative.

"No, Albus I'd rather not. If I was meant to know it then I would have remembered it, seeing I have not, I think it would be safer that I didn't." With that said she slowly rose from her seat and exited the office leaving a confused contemplating headmaster.

Suddenly a bright white caught his eye and he turned to look over at the table covered in trinkets. There in the center of the table sat the smoky globe that instead of the usual gray flashed a pure white smoke with brilliant colors flashing through it occasionally. The orb confirmed what he already knew…a new prophecy was just made.