Chapter 17 : Mark of Destiny

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"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 room fell silent as the ominous words rang in their minds. How could this be, Severus asked himself yet again. And what would happen now? And what…

"Wait a moment!" The young professor exclaimed, making both Harry and -to his eternal surprise- Merlin, jump on their seats. "The prophecy states that whoever was chosen to defeat the Dark Lord would be marked as his equal. No matter how Adrian's scar came to be, wasn't he the one marked?"

"Valid point." Merlin offered waving his wand towards Harry in a swift movement, pausing over the boy's waist. "But I'm afraid untrue; Harry, if you wouldn't mind, could you please lift your shirt?" Harry looked at the old wizard perplexed and then turned to Severus questioningly. After he received a brief nod, he lifted his shirt slightly to show…

"What is that?" The green eyed boy exclaimed with fear as he noticed the top of what appeared to be a mark on his hipbone. He lowered his jeans ever so little and was met with the sight of what resembled a type of a Celtic knot. It wasn't similar to anything else he had ever seen; it was black and shaped like an eight pointed star, almost three inches tall and two, maybe two and a half wide.

"That is the mark referred in the prophecy; it was not created because of Voldemort but was forced to appear sooner than it should due to his intervention, thus marking Harry as his equal." Merlin explained.

"But what is it?" Severus asked fretting. "It wasn't there before, was it Harry?"

"No!" The boy said softly touching the mark as if afraid he would get burned. His reaction made Merlin chuckle openly.

"You think this is funny?" An annoyed Severus asked, swearing the continuous and rapid change between fear and anger was going to lead him straight to St. Mango's.

"Harry just reminded me of another young wizard's reaction to his mark. He had barely turned seven himself and he thought he had been cursed and was doomed to die within the day." The old wizard said merrily.

"Is there someone else with a mark like Harry's?" Severus asked in relief. "If you tell me where he is, I will go and…"

"No need to search far Severus." Merlin stopped him with a smile. "You're looking at him." He stated and lifted his right sleeve; there, on his forearm, stood a mark similar to Harry's. It was black too and fashioned like a Celtic knot but it was surrounded by small orbs, barely a quarter of an inch wide, situated between and above the points of the knot.

"But what is it?" Harry asked again, calmer now that somebody else had a mark like him. Severus on his part -even if he would later deny he even broke a sweat- was close to hyperventilating. Harry, his innocent little boy, was sharing a mark with Merlin?

"It's called an emblem Harry; during my time it was more common to find one amongst witches and wizards. Once they reached a certain age, they preformed the spell necessary and, if they were magically strong enough, their emblem would appear on some part of their body." Merlin explained. "The main emblem depends on the wizard and his abilities are stated on it." He pointed at some runes fashioned inside the lines on the knot. "Those will appear when you first use an ability you possess. But see those circles surrounding the emblem?" Harry nodded. "You see Harry, emblems were, besides of a boast of how strong a wizard was, a way to mark your progress in magic. Each time you begin apprenticing, meaning each time you begin to study a subject on magic, you create the possibility for such a circle to appear. Once your magic deems you have reached an appropriate level in the specific subject, the circle will appear, marking you an apprentice on that subject of magic. That circle will remain black until your magic has once again deemed you ready to be called a master on that subject. When that happens, the color of the circle will change according to the subject you study. Take for example this one." Merlin said and pointed a dark green circle in the upper right corner oh his mark. "That circle marks me as a master of potions, while that one" he said pointing to a dark blue circle "marks me as master of charms."

"And I'll get circles like these?" Harry asked in awe.

"Yes you will; if you practice that is." Merlin said with a smile as Harry regarded his emblem with a renewed interest. "You took it better than I did; I insisted I was going to burst into flames for a whole hour after I was told what an emblem was." The old wizard admitted, making Harry giggle.

"Excuse me for a second." Severus said with a forced calm voice. "If I understood correctly, you said that the emblem only appeared after a spell was cast. In Harry's case though…"

"In Harry's case, just as in mine, it was our magic itself that created the emblem. I never did figure out why, but after many years I have concluded that it was its way of saying; hey notice me, I'm here!" Merlin said in utmost seriousness.

"Really? It's just a caprice of your magic that made it appear? Is it just random?" Severus asked unconvinced.

"I never said it was random; I believe that my magic, just as Harry's begged to come out, to be trained, to expand, and the emblem was the way it made it known to us." Merlin elaborated. "Not that hard to grasp I believe." He said looking at Harry fondly.

"Then there's a lot to talk about when we get back." Severus said and sighed.

"What?" Harry asked taking his eyes off his mark. "Why?"

"You're the Boy Who Lived, Harry." Severus said with a rueful smile. "Don't you think they, and by they I mean your family first and foremost, will want to know?" Harry just stood looking at Severus in deep thought, his expression too contemplative to be pulled of flawlessly by a seven year old.

"If we do tell them, what do you think will happen?" He asked in all seriousness.

"I suspect they will start your training as they should have already. You'll even get a wand!" He tried to sound cheerful but inside he was slowly dying. Training for Harry meant he would never get to see him until he enrolled to Hogwarts in four years. Maybe he would get to see Adrian instead but really, he'd rather not. Adrian wasn't Harry; nobody was Harry. Severus felt like he was losing his family all over again.

"So they will take me to see all those unnecessary experts and have me read textbooks I have already finished? And what will happen to Adrian?"

"I can't know what your training will require; as for Adrian, he will probably switch places with you." That shocked Harry to the core; would they really do that?

"But…" he turned to Merlin and asked "I'm stronger than Adrian, right?" The old wizard nodded with a smile, seeing where Harry was headed. Severus frowned; Harry wasn't one to boast. "If I'm stronger, won't Adrian need more training than me?" The boy asked hopefully looking at Severus who smiled softly after a soft moment of surprise. "He will be a target once we grow up, if the Dark Lord returns, won't he? Won't training help him survive?

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