THE LIGHTNING LORD

Chapter 44 : Secrets unveiled P1

Harry and Daphne found themselves sitting in the family living room at Potter Castle, each sipping on hot chocolate. "Okay Daphne, I promised to reveal my secrets to you during the holidays, and I intend to keep my promise. Your Occlumency has developed quite well over the past year, but I still want you to practice every night because people like Albus Dumbledore can extract information from you by force if necessary. But I really doubt anyone is that stupid to try" said Harry.

Daphne nodded and motioned for him to continue.

Harry took a deep breath and continued. "You can say that I was born gifted. I started performing accidental magic when I was just a few months old, something which is very rare among magical babies, because kids usually start showing signs of active magic much later. From what I've read from my parents' journals, Dumbledore used to frequently visit me, and the frequent visits and the 'gleam in his eye' according to my mother, which made her quite uneasy."

"You've read the article in the paper asking why Voldemort specifically targeted me. The reason why is because there was a prophecy made a few months before my birth" At this, Daphne gasped. Harry continued saying "The prophecy was made by Sybill Trelawney, the Divination teacher at Hogwarts, to Albus Dumbledore. It was during her recital that Severus Snape overheard part of the prophecy and relied it to Voldemort. The first half of the prophecy said that a boy would be born at the end of July to parents who had thrice defied the Dark Lord, and the said boy would have the power to vanquish the Dark Lord."

"Dumbledore in his infinite wisdom, had concluded that only two expecting mothers could be subject to the prophesy. Both women were members of Dumbledore's secret organisation 'The Order of the Phoenix', and both were pregnant and expected to deliver at the end of July. The two women were Lily Potter and Alice Longbottom" said Harry. Daphne went pale.

"Unfortunately, Voldemort had come to the same conclusion as well. A few months later, on the 30th of July, 1980, Neville Francis Longbottom was born. A few hours later, in the wee hours of the 31st of July, Hadrian James Potter was born. A spy was infiltrated into the ranks of the Order; Voldemort was now after the two infants. Both our fates were sealed."

"But what was against Voldemot was that both families were the heads of Most Ancient and Noble Houses; Frank and Alice Longbottom along with James Potter were Aurors and fierce duellists; Lily Potter was an Unspeakable and was well known for being highly gifted in magic; both Potter Manor and Longbottom Manor were heavily warded. Assassinating them wasn't going to be easy, even with a spy involved."

Harry took a sip of his drink and continued "They evaded Voldemort for more than a year. By then, the war had taken a toll for the worse. So many witches and wizards were dying, there was rash muggle killing, the International Statute of Secrecy was close to being shattered to pieces, and the Ministry had a tough job of keeping magic secret from the muggles. Had the muggles found out about magic, Voldemort would be the least of their problems, as it could have been the ignition of a war between magicals and muggles all over the world. The members of the Order were slowly getting killed off one by one. My parents were alone as well as my grandparents, Charlus and Dorea had been murdered by a group of twenty Death Eaters just a year back. Everyone knew there was a spy, but no one knew who it was."

"The Order was certainly very inefficient, Dumbledore saw to that. Even though Barty Crouch, the then Director of the DMLE authorised lethal force, Dumbledore was dead set against it. That was the major reason for us that set us on the path to losing the war; we can't win if we use stunning spells against Death Eaters who use dark magic of deadly power. Of course, not everyone followed his instructions; the Prewett twins, my parents, Sirius, the Longbottoms and Alastor Moody come to mind. The old man didn't even ask check if any of the members were Death Eaters! A magical vow would have been sufficient to flush out the spy! But he didn't do it."