~~Director's Office, DMLE~~
Saul Croaker stepped into Amelia's office and froze… It seems Amelia had added something really lovely to her Floo entrance though he started to wonder how she was able to get her hands on some of his blood… Something to think about at a later date. An amused smirk appeared on his face when he noticed that Amelia wasn't alone…
Alastor Moody was staring at him with an apprehensive look on his face and he was looking extremely uncomfortable… He wanted to giggle, but that would have ruined his gig. He knew why the man was looking so apprehensive… It was so easy to mess with the man. Saul grinned mischievously, as he stepped forward, not bothered by the fact that either Amelia or Alastor might notice the mischievous look on his face.
He was still wearing his hood, so his face was still obscured… He noticed the firewhiskey at the table and started to wonder. There were two possibilities… Either Amelia and Alastor were catching up or they were discussing something really serious. After some consideration, he quickly dismissed the former possibility… If the two of them were catching up, then they wouldn't have summoned him.
He might be able to call Amelia a friend, but Alastor was not one of his friends even though he loved to mess with the man…
He pulled back the empty seat and plopped down before patting his robes… "Amelia" He said while nodding his head before turning his head toward the other occupant of the room. "Alastor" He gave the man a nod as a greeting before finally turning back toward Amelia.
"So… How can this humble Ministry servant assist you, Amelia?" Saul asked in an indifferent tone, not giving away any of his emotions even though he was really intrigued. Alastor snorted derisively when Saul called himself a humble Ministry servant.
"Saul… before I say anything. This is really serious, Saul… Can I trust you to keep everything we discuss to yourself?" Amelia asked with a grave look on her face and Saul gave himself a mental pat for reading the situation accurately.
"As long as it doesn't pose any threat to my Department, I will keep this meeting to myself" Saul agreed without wasting much time. He knew Amelia and Alastor well enough to know that the two of them weren't going to plan a coup or something along those lines.
Amelia nodded her head as a look of relief surfaced on her face and then she turned toward Alastor. The man intently glared at Saul for the next few seconds before turning toward Amelia. He gave her a stiff nod and Amelia seemed to relax in her seat.
"A drink, Saul?" Amelia offered as she turned toward Saul.
"Sure" Saul immediately accepted the offer without a second thought. He had to admit that Amelia seems to have good taste in alcohol and there was no way he was going to refuse such a nice drink.
"Good! You will need it by the time we are done" Amelia grunted as she opened her drawer to grab another glass. Meanwhile, Saul raised his brows in question as he started to wonder exactly what the three of them were going to discuss and what could be so serious that he was going to need a drink…
Amelia poured drinks for all of them and then she finally started to speak… Saul had to admit, the topic was really serious enough and by the end of it, he already had three drinks. Alastor also kept giving his input from time to time… By the time Amelia and Alastor finished speaking, Saul was sporting a massive frown on his face.
He kept tapping his fingers on the desk for the next couple of minutes… Amelia and Alastor simply kept watching the man without saying anything. They really wanted to know if the man could really provide them with the answers they wanted or not…
"...We don't know much about Love Magic, but we believe that Love is the strongest emotion. Even Love Potions can't produce Love… Even Amortenia, the strongest Love Potion can only create infatuation. Lily Potter's sacrifice might have invoked some sort of Love Magic. In that regard, I agree with Dumbledore…" Saul answered thoughtfully after a long pause of silence.
"Her Sacrifice might have created some sort of protection Ward around Harry Potter and anyone related to her blood. After all, he did survive the Killing Curse, which is completely unheard of and Love Magic is definitely strong enough to perform such a feat" Saul admitted slowly.
"Sorry, I couldn't confirm anything else in regard to Love Magic… I could have told you more after conducting some tests on Harry Potter" Saul waved his hand dismissively. Both Amelia and Alastor decided to ignore the fact that Saul was talking about conducting experiments on the vaunted Boy-Who-Lived.
"It is not Death Magic… We know a lot more about Death Magic and Death Magic is just that… Death Magic. It kills and most of our research on Death Magic is based on the Veil of Death" Saul explained with a hint of clear disinterest in his voice.
"As for a Prophecy… Yes, he might have referred to a Prophecy. I don't know if there is a Prophecy regarding the Boy-Who-Lived or not, but I can easily solve the issue…" Saul admitted as he slowly stood up.
"How?" Amelia asked as she stood up too. Now, she was also desperate for answers and Alastor was already feeling along the same lines…
"By visiting the Hall of Prophecies, how else?!" Saul beamed at the duo. "Come, follow me!" Saul added cheerfully as he made his way toward the Floo… Amelia and Alastor looked at each other before the two of them shrugged and decided to follow Saul through the Floo…
The two of them appeared inside Saul's office… This wasn't the first time Amelia was in his office, but this was definitely the first time Alastor was in his office, and paranoia senses were going haywire… He wanted to run and never return. Saul was waiting for the duo by the door. "Let's go, you two!" Saul called out, acting like an excited child on a sugar rush.
Unspeakables were inherently a curious bunch, so it was obvious that he was also excited to know why Albus was so obsessed with the boy… Saul led the duo down the halls and Alastor was barely holding himself back from flinging Spells… Saul led the duo through the Time Room. Amelia and Alastor stared at the huge assortment of Time Turners with a bit of awe and apprehensiveness.
"Welcome to the Hall of Prophecies!" Saul declared dramatically as pushed open another door, revealing a dark room.
The trio entered the room and Amelia and Alastor couldn't help but gape at the sight in front of them. The ceiling was high as that of a cathedral and the room was filled with row upon row of towering shelves. On the shelves, there were hundreds of small, dusty, glass orbs with a yellowed and dusty label affixed below each of the orbs. The only light in the room was coming from blue flamed candles, which were affixed on uniform intervals.
"Good morning #72, as you can see, I have brought a couple of guests with me. There is something we want to confirm, so can I have the catalog?" Saul spoke out loud while looking toward his right and a man shimmered into existence. As expected the man's identity was hidden under the hood. Amelia and Alastor tensed as the man approached them…
"Good luck!" The man said and handed over a diary to Saul. Saul thanked the man and the man simply disappeared into the darkness. Saul opened the diary and wrote something on the diary with his Wand.
"Well… I will be damned! There is really a Prophecy regarding Harry Potter" Saul gushed out excitedly and started to move. He was so excited that he completely forgot that Amelia and Alastor were there too… Alastor growled unhappily and rushed behind the man. Amelia simply pursed her lips and followed Saul. The orbs seemed to be glowing with a dull glow, but the two of them noticed that some of the orbs were dark.
"Saul, why are some of the orbs not glowing?" Amelia asked curiously.
"Oh… Well, each orb contains a Prophecy and when a Prophecy is fulfilled, the orb stops glowing. By the way, don't touch any of the orbs or you will go mad" Saul explained without bothering to look back. Both Amelia and Alastor grimaced and shrank away from the shelves as much as they could.
"We are here!" Saul declared as he arrived in front of row 97. "Aha! Here it is!" Saul declared as he pointed at an orb. The orb was filled with some sort of swirling white liquid. The three of them stepped forward to read the yellowed label affixed below the glowing orb…
S.P.T to A.P.W.B.D
Dark Lord
and (?) Harry Potter
"Sybill Patricia Trelawney gave this Prophecy to Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore" Saul mumbled, his voice laced with awe and fascination, but Amelia and Alastor were white as sheets. The bloody orb was still glowing and the Dark Lord mentioned on the label could be only Voldemort. The Prophecy was still active, which meant Voldemort was still alive…
The two of them reached the same conclusion and they felt a chill run down their spines… "Saul, the Prophecy is still active, right?" Amelia's voice hitched.
"Yes" Saul mumbled as he slowly turned around…
"Then You-Know-Who is still alive?" Alastor asked even though he already knew the answer.
"Yes" Saul mumbled as he turned around to stare at the glowing orb. Voldemort was still alive and now Saul really wanted to know how… He already started to draw some theories inside his mind, completely unbothered by the fact that Amelia and Alastor were still white as sheets at the grave implications of the Prophecy…
~~Fourth Floor, St Mungo's Hospital~~ (July 8th, 1994)
Sirius Black shot up while gasping for air… He frantically looked around, trying to figure out where the fuck he was… He was having a really bad nightmare where he saw James and Lily cursing him for failing Harry… When he finally started to calm down, he remembered that yesterday he was transferred to St Mungo's after his trial.
He placed a hand over his face, only to find that his face was drenched with sweat… He looked beside his table to find a jug filled with water. He didn't even bother to pour water into the glass and started to drink straight from the jug. After gulping down a lot of water, he returned the jug to the table, which was beside his bed before he started to recall his trail…
The trial was pretty straightforward… He was summoned in front of Wizengamot along with Peter Pettigrew. Sirius readily agreed to tell his story under the influence of Veritaserum and Peter was forced to take Veritaserum… Before the trial, his lawyer had informed him that the trial was pretty much a done deal and even if he refused from saying anything, all of his charges will be dropped and he will be released.
Apparently, they were simply holding the trail for appearance's sake… Sirius couldn't help but feel enraged when he remembered that people like Lucius Malfoy and Theodore Nott Sr. were sitting among the ruling body of Magical Britain while he was tossed into Azkaban without a trial. Minister Cornelius Fudge declared him innocent and offered him a sum of 30,000 Galleons for each year of his wrongful imprisonment at the end of the trial.
That was a lot of gold, but the years he lost couldn't be compared with any amount of gold he received… Sirius mused bitterly when Albus Dumbledore of all people asked for leniency on Peter Pettigrew's regard when the Minister suggested giving him the Kiss or tossing him through the Veil. Ultimately, Peter Pettigrew was given a life sentence in Azkaban. Sirius felt viciously gleeful when he realized that Peter was going to spend the rest of his life in the company of Dementors…
Though after a few seconds, the smile on his face dropped when he remembered that he couldn't meet his godson because he was in America, attending Ilvermorny, instead of Hogwarts… He started to wonder how Harry was going to react after meeting him… He just hoped that Harry found it in himself to forgive him somewhere down the line…
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