"That might, indeed, have been the more practical course," said Dumbledore, "except that Voldemort's information about the prophecy was incomplete. The Hog's Head inn, which Sybill chose for its cheapness, has long attracted, shall we say, a more interesting clientele than the Three Broomsticks. It is a place where it is never safe to assume you are not being overheard. Of course, I had not dreamed, when I set out to meet Sybill Trelawney, that I would hear anything worth overhearing. My — our — one stroke of good fortune was that the eavesdropper was detected only a short way into the prophecy and thrown from the building."
"So he only heard — ?"
"He heard only the beginning, the part foretelling the birth of a boy in July to parents who had thrice defied Voldemort. Consequently, he could not warn his master that to attack you would be to risk transferring power to you, and marking you as his equal. So Voldemort never knew that there might be danger in attacking you, that it might be wise to wait, to learn more. He did not know that you would have power the Dark Lord knows not — "
"But I don't!" said Harry, in a voice that was oddly calm. "I haven't any powers he hasn't got"
"There is a room in the Department of Mysteries," interrupted Dumbledore, "that is kept locked at all times. It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than the forces of nature. It is also, perhaps, the most mysterious of the many subjects for study that reside there. It is the power held within that room that you possess in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all. It was your heart. The love you held within it."
Harry closed his eyes. He asked, without caring much about the answer, "The end of the prophecy . . . it was something about . . . neither can live . . ."
"...while the other survives,"said Dumbledore.
"So," said Harry, "according to you, does that mean that . . . that one of us has got to kill the other one . . . in the end?"
"Yes," said Dumbledore.
For a long time, neither of them spoke, then Harry suddenly exploded.
Harry stared at Dumbledore in disbelief. "That's it?" he asked in tones of utter incredulity. "That's all you've got? The reason that Voldemort's been trying to kill me for all these years. A few lines of gibberish from a drunk fraud? Just the fact that she gave it during a bloody job interview -— That alone should have been a huge red flag for you."
"Harry, I assure you that the prophecy is a true prophecy. I scanned Professor Trelawney's mind right after she said it. She had absolutely no recollection of saying those words. That combined with the way she said it — It had all the hallmarks of a true prophecy. It would have been utterly impossible for anyone, let alone her, to fake it."
"Really?" asked Harry. "How much are you willing to bet on that? Because I'm willing to bet you any amount you care to wager that I can fake a prophecy just as well as that."
"My dear boy, I assure you that there is no way..."
"Oh stow it," snapped Harry as he whipped out his wand and hit Dumbledore with a charm.
A few minutes later, Dumbledore suddenly snapped to attention. He felt like he had just fallen asleep for a moment.
"What just happened?" he asked.
"Not much, just me proving a point. Now Professor, I'd appreciate it if you would kindly look at this device. It's called a camcorder, consider it the muggle version of a Pensieve, and if you would just look at the screen right there you might see something that would interest you."
Harry handed the camcorder to Dumbledore and pressed the play button. Dumbledore nearly dropped the tiny little device when it started playing. He was astonished to see himself on the tiny screen. It showed him sitting at the same table where he was currently still seated, speaking words which he had absolutely no recollection of saying. There he was saying something in exactly the same harsh tones that Trelawney's prophecy had been in.
"The Great Bumblebee shall discover"
"on the day that east meets west"
"and the sun cleaveth the moon"
"that he is not as smart as he thinks he is"
"How? How is this possible?" he sputtered.
"It's was ridiculously easy," said Harry. "All, I really needed was a compulsion charm to read out what I had written on this paper here, just a bit of rubbish that I wrote. Tack on a voice changing charm to give you that lovely harsh tone and top it off with a short term obliviate so that a Legilimens will see that you have no memory of saying it. Crudely done, but even with that, I think I've managed to recreate the effects of Trelawney's prophecy. Plus, you must know it's ridiculously easy to pre-cast a spell and add a trigger to it. All Trelawney had to do was get that cast on her anytime before her interview with you, set it to go off when she says a particular word and you know what she got?"
"What?" asked Dumbledore, despite himself.
"Employment! A wonderful sinecure. An instant job, probably for the rest of her life. One where she barely has to do any work. Just light the incense and scare a few teenagers with ridiculous prophecies of their death a few times a week. Rather brilliant of her, I must say."
"Harry, you're forgetting that part of the prophecy has already come true. You were clearly marked. The scar on your head was caused by Voldemort."
"Oh please. Don't tell me you've never heard about a self-fulfilling prophecy. Hell, take any murderous psychopath and tell him that there's only one person in the world that can defeat him and if he believes you, then sooner or later he's going to go and attack that person. At least one of them is guaranteed to die, the survivor is more than likely to have a few scars, and then you can happily claim that your prophecy was true. It's utter bullshit as far as I'm concerned," stated Harry.
"There was a time when I would have agreed with you Harry," said Dumbledore. "Unfortunately, over the years I have come to the inescapable conclusion that the prophecy holds true. Voldemort has never even come close to being defeated by anyone else. Only you have ever been able to defeat him."
Harry was about to interrupt when Dumbledore held up his hand. "Hear me out, please," he asked. "I'm not just talking about the night he killed your parents. Don't forget that you also managed to thwart his plans of stealing the Philosopher's stone. You were the one who defeated his shade and killed the basilisk that was terrorising Hogwarts. You were the one, Harry, that managed to escape him after he kidnapped you during the Triwizard Tournament. There you were, injured, bleeding, not an ally in sight. What did you do? Not only did you manage to duel him to a standstill, you also managed to escape. And if that wasn't enough you managed to retrieve poor Cedric's body as well. No other wizard in the world, not even me, can claim to have done as much against Voldemort as you. You are the one Harry. You are the only one who can defeat Lord Voldemort."
Harry just stared at Dumbledore for a long moment and then he did something that surprised Dumbledore. It was the very last thing that Dumbledore expected him to do.
Harry Potter began to laugh.
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