Don't Mess With The Chosen One....

17

"What were you thinking?!" Sirius asked the boys the second they landed in Dumbledore's office. "You could have died! Harry, what in the world could possibly have made you think it would be a smart idea to leave Hogwarts without telling anyone?! Especially when Voldemort wanted to kill you?!"

"I THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO KILL YOU!" Harry shouted.

Sirius's eyes widened slightly, but then he shook his head. "Well why wouldn't you have checked to make sure I wasn't actually at the Ministry?"

"I did! Kreacher even said you weren't home! And then you didn't even answer when I tried using the mirror! Where were you?"

Sirius muttered something about killing Kreacher when he saw him again, before glancing at Remus and then back to his godson. "I was with Remus at his house. We've been setting things up so that you can live with us."

Before Harry could say anything more than "Oh", Dumbledore entered his office through the door, and smiled at them all, as if they were about to share a cup of tea.

Dumbledore sat behind his desk and peered at each of them with his piercing blue eyes. He requested that Draco, Sirius, and Remus leave the office so that he could speak to Harry alone. They did, and Dumbledore turned his attention to Harry.

"Harry, you have shown such bravery tonight, and more courage than most of the adults I know. I am very proud of you. But I fear that I may have tarnished our relationship by not giving you as much attention as I normally would have."

Harry averted his gaze. There were other things that Harry would say had tarnished their relationship.

Dumbledore continued talking. "You may have wondered why I haven't spoken to you this year."

He paused, waiting for Harry to answer him.

"I might have wondered why, Sir," Harry said like he was suppose to.

"Harry, I am going to tell you something I should have told you after you had retrieved the Philosopher's Stone. But in my arrogance and old age, I had believed that you were much too young to know the truth. And then, after you'd stopped Voldemort from returning in your Second Year, I felt that twelve was still much too young. At thirteen, you'd proven once again that you were stronger and more magically capable than adult wizards. And then at fourteen you had witnessed Voldemort's return and had faced many hardships. It was getting harder to justify that you not know the truth, as you grew into a young man."

'Is he about to tell me what he did? Is he going to admit it?' Harry wondered.

"Professor? What- what are you trying to tell me?"

"You asked me in your first year, to know the truth of why Voldemort had gone after you, and killed your father and mother..." Dumbledore said. "I never gave you an answer.... The truth is, Harry-"

Harry's heart began beating very fast, and he felt himself lean forward in anticipation.

"-Lord Voldemort went after you because he had overheard a prophecy made by Sybil Trelawney, a few months before you were born."

"The prophecy was smashed at the Ministry," Harry said. "We don't know what was in it."

"That was simply a record of the prophecy," Dumbledore said. "Luckily, I was the one to whom Sybil told it to." And Dumbledore stood up and brought the Pensieve to his desk. He then removed a strand of memory from his mind, and put it in the Pensieve.

A figure rose up; Trelawney was wearing her usual many shawls and giant glasses that magnified her eyes. Then she spoke, in a raspy, powerful voice: