One Last Try [HP Jamione fanfic]

57. Look What You Made Me Do

8th January 1980

"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...."

Dumbledore barely managed to swallow down the sip of hot tea he'd taken instead of spitting it across the table. He saw all his plans crumbling before him, everything changed with some words from a fraud of a psychic.

Well, apparently not that much of a fraud.

He hastily – and much too late – cast a privacy spell around their table, glancing around the room to see if anyone had seen or heard the new prophecy. Unfortunately he had missed the tall man who'd disappeared out the door halfway through the prophecy – missing the important ending.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" Sybill Trelawney asked, clearly unaware of the words that had just left her mouth.

Dumbledore reached out and patted her hand, "Nothing important dear." He continued the interview, leaving the woman in front of him unaware of the fates she'd just changed. All the while he was creating and destroying new plans in his mind, moving pawns around on an invisible chessboard.

He was, of course, unaware that most of the pawns he was moving around knew information that would change everything again. That most of the teenagers he'd shaped into child soldiers were not fighting for him.

"Well, my dear. We look forward to seeing you in September for your first year of teaching." He said with a beatific smile to the woman in front of him. He twinkled at her, and hurried as subtly as he could from his brother's pub, ignoring the daggers Aberforth was glaring at him.

xxx

2nd February 1980

"If everyone could be quiet please. We have a lot to get through in today's meeting." Dumbledore's voice rang out clearly over the assembled Order. For once everyone had come to the meeting – no one was away on any missions or information gathering. The room was packed, Hermione and her friends stood near the back together.

"I've had some troubling news recently, and it is high time you all heard it. It has come to my attention through a source that Voldemort is now aware of the news."

Hermione frowned, dread filling her stomach. There could only be one thing Dumbledore would be so worried about Voldemort finding out. It didn't bode well, or make any sense. Harry wasn't going to be born, right? Her hand tightened in James' and he sent her a worried look. She just shook her head, not saying anything, her gaze focused intently on Alice and Lily. Lily had thrown up quite a bit at Christmas, but Hermione had honestly forgotten about her theory when Lily hadn't said anything.

If it was the prophecy Dumbledore was referring to though, then Hermione didn't understand how Voldemort had heard it. In her original time Severus had been the one to reveal the prophecy to him, but he was working against Voldemort and had been since the beginning, so it didn't make any sense. She'd have to contact Regulus or Severus after the meeting to find out if they knew anything.

Dumbledore was speaking at the front of the room, his voice cutting through Hermione's thoughts and the anxious chatter that had started. "Nearly a month ago I had a meeting with a potential new Divination teacher." He revealed. Beside Hermione, Sirius frowned and muttered something rude beneath his breath about Divination that had Hermione smiling through her worry. "I wasn't going to hire her at first, but then she went into a trance and revealed a prophecy. She was unaware of the words she had spoken, but somehow Voldemort has heard at least part of the prophecy and he is now set on taking out the person this prophecy refers to."