Harry eventually started to pace around the room again. He was breathing extremely deeply. The portraits of the headmasters office were all asleep. The room was quiet until the portrait of Phineas Nigellus woke up.

"And what brings you here the early hours of the morning?" He said to Harry. "This office is supposed to be barred to all but the rightful headmaster. Or has Dumbledore sent you here? Oh, don't tell me... Another message fro my worthless great-great-grandson?" He said. Harry did not answer, instead he walked towards the other side of the room.

A few more of the portraits started to move now. I put my knees to my chest in the armchair that I was hiding in. Harry walked back over to the door and pulled it, once again it did not move. I got up and walked over to him.

"Harry, you can't walk around here the whole time..... It's not going to change anything that's happened," I said after I walked over to him. He breathed very heavily and didn't look at me.

"Neither will sitting,"

"Well, we should just wait till Dumbledore comes back from the Ministry," I said. My voice cracked because I was near tears again thinking about Sirius and everyone who was injured.

"We.... We can't change what's happened... B-but we c-can accept it," I said with my lip trembling and tears in my eyes.

"He was my only family," said Harry stiffly.

"You still have me...." I said as two tears leapt from my eyes. Harry nodded stiffly and walked towards the back of the office where the portraits were.

"I hope this means that Dumbledore will soon be back with us," said a red haired portrait. Harry nodded stiffly. I walked over towards the window in Dumbledores office. There was green on the horizon, it was not yet dawn. Soon, students in Hogwarts would wake up and go to the Great Hall not knowing what had happened until they would hear about it in the Daily Prophet. This thought struck me as odd, no one would know, until they read about it. They wouldn't know the feeling of despair that currently filled me as I watched the window.

"Oh, good. It's been very dull without him, very dull, indeed," said the portrait.

"Dumbledore thinks very highly of you, as I am sure you know," said the portrait as he smiled at Harry. I wiped away a tear from my eyes and smiled. Harry was barely looking at the portrait. "Oh yes, holds you in great esteem,"

Harry walked away from the portraits and started pacing endlessly again. I stared still out the window and looked at the forbidden forest. It looked beautiful from above, birds swooped in and out of trees.

Suddenly, the fireplace burst into emerald-green flames. Dumbledore entered the room and slowly walked over to the perch and took the baby Fawkes out of his robe pocket and sat him gently on his perch. The baby bird looked quite beautiful.

"Well, I'm sure you two will be happy to hear that none of your fellow students are going to suffer lasting damage from the nights events. Harry opened his mouth as if to speak but no sound came out and instead he just nodded.

"Good," I said quietly with a small nod.

I noticed Dumbledore was looking at Harry kindly but, Harry was not meeting his gaze. Instead he was more staring at the ground.

"Madame Pomfrey is patching everyone up now. Nymphadora Tonks may need to spend a little time at St. Mungos, but it seems that she will make a full recovery," I breathed a small sigh of relief when I heard this.

"I know how your feeling, Harry," said Dumbledore quietly. I now turned back to the window. I did not feel like witnessing what I knew was about to happen. The sky was growing steadily paler.

"No, you don't-" said Harry. His voice was strong and he sounded angry. I knew he was going to take out his grief through anger.

"You see Dumbledore? Never try to understand students- they hate it. They would much rather be tragically misunderstood, wallow in their self-pity, stew in their own-" said Phineas Niggelus.

"That's enough, Phineas," said Dumbledore. It was good he did I was almost going to break his frame.

I stared out the window. It was almost beautiful watching the sunrise, but, the feeling I was experiencing took over the beauty and made it seem almost evil.

I looked over at Harry. He was looking over at the window in front of mine that showed the Quidditch field. I knew he must of been thinking about the time that Sirius had snuck as a black dog to watch Harry play as a seeker.

"There is no shame in what you are feeling," said Dumbledore calmly, but this time he did not address it to anyone. I knew he was talking to both me and Harry. I leaned against the wall next to the window and stared out of it.

"On the contrary, the fact that you can feel pain like this is your greatest strength," this time I knew he was talking to Harry.

"My greatest strength, is it?" Said Harry with a small laugh. My eyes were watering again and I was near tears. "You haven't got a clue... You don't know..." Said Harry. A tear fell from my eye and cascaded down my cheek.

"What don't I know?" Asked Dumbledore with the same calmness in his voice that he had had since he got back.

"I don't want o talk about how I feel, all right?" Said Harry. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that he had turned towards Dumbldore. Tears were now falling down my face rapidly. I was shaking slightly.

"Harry, suffering like this proves you are still a man! This pain is part of being human-" said Dumbledore.

"THEN- I- DON'T WANT- TO BE-HUMAN," screamed Harry angrily. I was crying quietly staring out the window as he screamed this. He was currently saying what I wanted to... But it was true, Harry's pain most likely was worse than mine at the moment. Sirius had been Harry's godfather and I knew Harry looked up to him like no other. I bit my lip to keep it from trembling any more and breathed in deeply.

Harry grabbed a small silver instrument from the table beside him and flung it across the room towards the wall opposite of me. It shattered into a million tiny pieces. I was a little shocked by this and it stopped me from crying.

"I DON'T CARE-" he said grabbing a Luna's one and throwing it into a fire. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH, I'VE SEEN ENOUGH, I WANT OUT, I WANT IT TO END-" screamed Harry as he smashed more tiny instruments on the ground. I shook my shoulder that I was leaning against the stone wall near the window. These words that Harry was scream wings upset me more than anything ever had before.

"You do care-" said Dumbledore. "You care so much, you feel as though you will bleed to death from the pain of it," said Dumbledore. He was so calm and had not tried to stop Harry from breaking up his things.

"I DON'T-" screamed Harry.

"Oh, yes,you do," said Dumbledore. "You have now lost your mother, your father, no the closet thing to a parent you've ever had. Of course, you care," said Dumbledore. I looked out the window again... I knew what Dumbledore said was true and that Harry knew it to. I stared out the window. The pale green was growing bigger.

"YOU DON'T KNOW HOW I FEEL! YOU- STANDING THERE- YOU-" Harry roared.

I watched as Harry ran to the door and seized the handle trying to open it. It didn't open,

"Let me out," Harry said. I noticed he was now shaking.

"No," said Dumbledore.

They stared at each other for a few seconds.

"Let me out," said Harry yet again.

"No," Dumbledore repeated.

"If you don't- if you keep me in here- if you don't let me-" said Harry shaking the doorknob.

"By all means keep destroying my possessions," said Dumbledore. "I dared say I have to many," he walked around his desk and sat behind it.

"Let me out," said Harry in a cold, calm voice. It was almost like how Dumbledore sounded.

"Not until I have my say," said Dumbledore.

"Do you- do you think I want to- do you think I give a- I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR anything you've got to say!" Harry roared.

"You will," said Dumbledore sadly. "Because you aren't nearly as mad at me as you ought to be. If you are to attack me, as I know you are close to doing, I would have thoroughly earned it," said Dumbledore. What he was saying mixed with his tone alarmed me.

"What are you talking about-" asked Harry.

"It is my thought Sirius died. Or I should say almost entirely my fault- I will not be so arrogant as to claim responsibility for the whole," Harry was now looking at Dumbledore angrily but with interest. I now looked at him occasionally. "Sirius was a brave, clever, and energetic man, and such men are not usually content to sit at home while they believe others to be in danger. Nevertheless, you should never have believed that it was necessary for you to go to the Department of Mysteries tonight. If I had been open with you, Harry, as I should have been a ling time ago, you would have known that Voldemort might try to lure you to the Department of Mysteries, and would never have been tricked into going there tonight. And Sirius would have never come after you. The blame lies with me, and with me alone," said Dumbledore. I looked from him to Harry a few times completely confused.

"Please sit down," said Dumbledore to Harry. Harry hesitated then slowly sat down at the chair in front of Dumbledores desk.

"Elizabeth, I suggest you may want to do the same," he said gesturing me to sit in the seat next to Harry's. I slowly moved from the window and over to his desk and sat down on the seat I had been on earlier.

"Am I to understand- that my great-great-grandson- the last of the Blacks- is dead?" Asked Phineas.

"Yes," sighed Dumbledore.

"I don't believe it-" he said as he walked out of the frame.

"Harry I owe you an explanation," said Dumbledore. "Eliza, you to but your explanations differ greatly yet go hand in hand in the same," said Dumbledore. I looked at him slightly confused but he just started to talk again.

"I know see hat I have done, and not done, with regard to you, bears all hallmarks of the failings of age. Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young... And I seem to have forgotten lately..." I looked out the window.

The sun was now rising rapidly. Orange and pink shown on the trees and light fell on Dumbledores glasses.

"I guessed fifteen years ago, when I saw that scar on your forehead, what it might mean. I guessed it might be a connection between you and Lord Voldemort.

"You've told me this before, Professor," interrupted Harry.

"Yes, but it is necessary to start with your scar. For it became apparent, shortly after you rejoined the Magical World  that I was correct, and your scar was giving you warnings of when Voldemort was close to you or feeling a powerful emotion," he said.

"I know," said Harry.

"And this ability of yours- to detect Voldemorts presence, even when he is in disguise, and to know what he is feeling when his emotions are roused- has become more and more pronounced since Voldemort returned to his full body and powers,"

"More recently, I became concerned that Voldemort might realize this connection between you exists. Sure enough, there came a time when you entered so far into his mind that he sensed your presence. I am speaking of course of the night you witnessed the attack in Mr. Weasley,"

"Yes, Snape already told me that," said Harry.

"Professor Snape," Dumbledore corrected. "Anyway this is where you start to come into the story Elizabeth. Voldemort had a connection with you that I will explain later. Now, you also saw the beginning of Mr. Weasleys fight  I believe. Voldemort dived into your soul... Yes, I know that sounds very bad but I will explain later," said Dumbledore to me. "Now, Harry did you wonder why it was not I who explained this to you?" Asked Dumbledore. "Why I did not teach you Occlumency? Why I did not so much as look at you for months?" Asked Dumbledore.

"Yeah, yeah I wondered..." Mumbled Harry.

"You see, I believed that it couldn't not be long before Voldemort attempted to force his way into your mind, to manipulate and indirect your thoughts, and I was not eager to give him more reasons to do more. I was sure that if he realized our relationship is- or was more than just headmaster and pupil, he would seize his chance to use you as a means to spy on me. I feared the uses to which he would put you, the possibility that he might try to possess you. Harry, I believe I was right to think that Voldemort would have made use of you in such a way. On those rare occasions we have made close contact, I thought I saw a shadow of him behind your eyes... I was trying, in distancing myself from you, to protect you. An old mans mistake..."

"Voldemort's aim in possessing you, as he demonstrated tonight, would not have been my destruction. It would have been yours. He hoped, when he possessed you briefly a short while ago, that I would sacrifice you in the hope of killing him," Harry sighed.

"Sirius told me that you felt Voldemort awake in you the very night that you had the vision of Mr. Weasley. I knew at once that my worst fears were correct: Voldemort from that point had realized he could use you. In a tremor got arm you both against Voldemort's attacks on your mind, I arranged Occlumency lessons with Professor Snape,"

I looked awkwardly out the window. The sun was now  making its way all over the office. The lawn was starting to be covered in its beauty.

"Professor Snape discovered," Dumbledore resumed, "that you had been dreaming about the door to the Department of Mysteries for months. Voldemort, of course, had been obsessed with the possibility of hearing the prophecy ever since he regained his body, and as he dwelled on the door, so did you, though you did not know what it meant,"

"And then you saw Rookwood, who worked in the Department of Mysteries before his arrest, telling Voldemort what we had known all along — that the prophecies held in the Ministry of Magic are heavily protected. Only the people to whom they refer can lift them from the shelves without suffering madness. In this case, either Voldemort himself would have to enter the Ministry of Magic and risk revealing himself at last — or else you would have to take it for him. It became a matter of even greater urgency that you should master Occlumency."

"But I didn't, I didn't practice, I didn't bother, I could have stopped myself from having those dreams, Hermione and Eliza kept telling me to practice, if I had he'd never of been able to show me where to go- Sirius wouldn't- Sirius wouldn't-" confessed Harry.

"I tried to check if he'd really taken Sirius, I went to Umbridges fire and talked to Kreacher, he aid he'd gone!" I was now nodding and thinking back to what Kreacher had said.

"Master, will never come back from the Department Of Mysteries," I mumbled.

"Kreacher lied, you were not his master so he could lie to you without even needing to punish himself. Kreacher intended you to go to the Ministry of Magic," said Dumbledore.

"He- he sent me on purpose?" Asked Harry.

"Oh, yes. Kreacher, I'm afraid has been serving more than one master for months,"

"How? He hasn't been out of Grimmuland place for years," Harry asked/stated.

"Kreacher seized his opportunity shortly before Christmas, when Sirius apparently shouted at him to get out. He took Sirius at his word and interpreted this as a order to leave the house.   
He went to the only Black family member to which he had any respect left for...Blacks cousin Narcissa, sister of Bellatrix, wife of Lucius Malfoy," declared Dumbledore.

"How do you know all of this?" Asked Harry.

"Kreacher told me last night. You see, when you gave Professor Snape that cryptic warning, he realized that you had had a vision of Sirius trapped in the Department Of Mysteries he immediately at once tried to contact me. I should explain that the members of the Order Of The Pheonix have more reliable methods of communication than Umbridges fire. Professor Snape found that Sirius was safe and alive in Grimmuland Place,"

"When, however, you did not return from your trip with Dolores Umbridge into the forest, Professor Snape grew worried that you still believed that Voldemort had Sirius held captive in the Ministry. He alerted certain members of the Order at once," continued Dumbledore.

Dumbledore breathed a great sigh and then continued on with "Alastor Moody, Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Remus Lupin were at headquarters when he first made contact. All agreed to go to your aid at once. Professor Snape requested that Sirius remain behind, as he needed someone to remain at headquarters to tell me what had happened, for I was due there any minute. In the meantime, he, professor Snape, intended to search the forest for you. But Sirius did not wish to remain behind while the others went to search for you," Suddenly pain shot at my left arm and I but my lip to keep from screaming. I grabbed my wrist and scratched it casually. "He delegates for Kreacher to tell me hat happened. And so it was that when I arrived in Grimmuland Place, shortly after they had left for the Ministry, it was the elf who told me- laughing fit to burst- where Sirius had gone," said Dumbldore.

"He was laughing?" Asked Harry.

"Oh yes, you see Kreacher was not able to betray us completely. He is not Secret-keeper for the order, he could not give the Malfoys our whereabouts or tell them any of the Orders confidential plans that he had been forbidden to reveal. He was bound by the enchantments of his kind, which is to say that he could not disobey a direct order from his master, Sirius. But he gave Narcissa information of the sort that is very valuable to Voldemort, yet must have seemed much to trivial to for Sirius to think of banning him from repeating it,"

"Like what?" Asked Harry.

"Like the fact that the person that Harry cared about most of all in the world was you Harry and then you Eliza. Like the fact that you were coming to regard Sirius as a sort of father and brother and you Eliza as a sort of a uncle," Tears were forming in my eyes again but I wiped them away before they got to fall from my eyes. "Voldemort knew, of course, that Sirius was in the Order, that you knew where he was, but Kreachers information made him realize that the one person whom you would go to any lengths to rescue would be Sirius-" said Dumbledore.

"So... When we asked Kreacher if Sirius was there... Last night..." Asked Harry.

"The Malfoys- undoubtedly on Voldemort's instructions- had told him he must of found a way to keep Sirius out of the way once you had seen the vision of Sirius being tortured. Then, if you decided to check wether or not Sirius was home, Kreacher would be able to tell you he wasn't. Kreacher injured Buckbeak the hippogriff yesterday, and at the moment that you made your appearance in the fire Sirius was upstairs trying to tend to him,"

"Is Buckbeak okay?" I asked. Dumbledore gave a small chuckle.

"Yes, fine," I sighed relief.

"And as Kreacher told you this he... Laughed?" Croaked Harry.

"Yes.... He did not wish to tell me it but I am a sufficiently accomplished Legimens myself to know when I am being lied to and I- persuaded him- to tell me the full story," said Dumbledore.

"And," whispered Harry, "and Hermione kept telling us to be nice to him —"

"She was quite right, Harry," said Dumbledore.
"I warned Sirius when we adopted twelve Grimmauld Place as our headquarters that Kreacher must be treated with kindness and respect. I also told him that Kreacher could be dangerous to us. I do not think that Sirius took me very seriously, or that he ever saw Kreacher as a being with feelings as acute as a humans —"
"Don't you blame — don't you — talk — about Sirius like —Kreacher's a lying — foul — he deserved —"

"Kreacher is what he has been made by wizards, Harry," said Dumbledore. "Yes, he is to be pitied. His existence has been as miserable as your friend Dobby's. He was forced to do Sirius's bidding, because Sirius was the last of the family to which he was enslaved, but he felt no true loyalty to him. Andwhatever Kreacher's faults, it must be admitted that Sirius did nothing to make Kreacher's lot easier —"

"DON'T TALK ABOUT SIRIUS LIKE THAT!" Harry yelled. I looked out the window. The sun was now completely up and the last colors of the sunrise were poking out.

"What about Snape?" Harry spat. "You're not talking about him, are you? When I told him Voldemort had Sirius he just sneered at me as usual —"

"Harry, you know that Professor Snape had no choice but to pretend not to take you seriously in front of Dolores Umbridge," said Dumbledore steadily, "but as I have explained, he informed the Order as soon as possible about what you had said. It was he who deduced where you had gone when you did not return from the forest. It was he too who gave Professor Umbridge fake Veritaserum when she was attempting to force you to tell of Sirius's whereabouts..."

"Harry, calm down-" I whispered.

"Snape — Snape g-goaded Sirius about staying in the house — he made out Sirius was a coward —"

"Sirius was much too old and clever to have allowed such feeble taunts to hurt him," said Dumbledore.

"Snape stopped giving me Occlumency lessons!" Harry snarled. "He threw me out of his office!"

"I am aware of it," said Dumbledore heavily. "I have already said that it was a mistake for me not to teach you myself, though I was sure, at the time, that nothing could have been more dangerous than to open your mind even further to Voldemort while in my presence —" started Dumbledore again.

"But Snape always made it worse- my scar always hurt worse after-" said Harry flustered.

"How do you know he wasn't trying to soften me up for Voldemort, make it easier for him to get inside my —"

"I trust Severus Snape," said Dumbledore simply. "But I forgot — another old man's mistake — that some wounds run too deep for the healing. I thought Professor Snape could overcome his feelings about your father — I was wrong."

"But that's okay, is it?" Yelled Harry, "It's okay for Snape to hate my dad, but it's not okay for Sirius to hate Kreacher?"

"Sirius did not hate Kreacher," said Dumbledore. "He regarded him as a servant unworthy of much interest or notice. Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike... The fountain we destroyed tonight told a lie. We wizards have mistreated and abused our fellows for too long, and we are now reaping our reward."

"SO SIRIUS DESERVED WHAT HE GOT, DID HE?" Harry yelled.

"I did not say that, nor will you ever hear me say it," Dumbledore replied quietly. "Sirius was not a cruel man, he was kind to house-elves in general. He had no love for Kreacher, because Kreacher was a living reminder of the home Sirius had hated."

"Yeah, he did hate it!" said Harry, his voice cracking, turning his back on Dumbledore and walking away. The sun was bright inside the room now, and the eyes of all the portraits followed him as he walked, without realizing what he was doing, without seeing the office at all. "You made him stay shut up in that house and he hated it, that's why he wanted to get out last night —"

"I was trying to keep Sirius alive," said Dumbledore quietly.

"People don't like being locked up!" Harry said furiously, rounding on him. "You did it to us all last summer —"

"Harry Professor Dumbledore only did what he thought was best for Sirius. If he didn't Sirius could have been caught and sent back to Azkaban! I'm sure it was the same for us," I yelled as Harry started walking around his chair again.

"It is time," he said, "for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry. Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything. I ask only a little patience. You will have your chance to rage at me — to do whatever you like — when I have finished. I will not stop you." Harry slowly sat down and glared at me.

"Harry," I said telling him to sit. He did.

"Five years ago you arrived at Hogwarts, Harry, safe and whole, as I had planned and intended. Well — not quite whole. You had suffered. I knew you would when I left you on your aunt and uncle's doorstep. I knew I was condemning you to ten dark and difficult years."

He paused. Harry said nothing.

"You might ask — and with good reason — why it had to be so. Why could some Wizarding family not have taken you in? Many would have done so more than gladly, would have been honored and delighted to raise you as a son.My answer is that my priority was to keep you alive. You were in more danger than perhaps anyone but myself realized. Voldemort had been vanquished hours before, but his supporters — and many of them are almost as terrible as he — were still at large, angry, desperate, and violent. And I had to make my decision too with regard to the years ahead. Did I believe that Voldemort was gone forever? No. I knew not whether it would be ten, twenty, or fifty years before he returned, but I was sure he would do so, and I was sure too, knowing him as I have done, that he would not rest until he killed you.I knew that Voldemort's knowledge of magic is perhaps more extensive than any wizard alive. I knew that even my most complex and powerful protective spells and charms were unlikely to be invincible if he ever returned to full power," said Dumbledore.

"Now Eliza had just been born from a emergency C-section after her Mother had died. Everyone that knew that she was related to you and had survived called you a miracle baby because you lived after your mother died and then a better miracle you were born four months early and still survived to live now. You were sent to St. Mungos and then you were left with your brother on the step of your Aunt and Uncles house," said Dumbledore. I nodded, I already knew both of our stories.

"Now,I knew too where Voldemort was weak. And so I made my decision. You would be protected by an ancient magic of which he knows, which he despises, and which he has always, therefore, underestimated — to his cost. I am speaking, of course, of the fact that your mother died to save you. She gave you a lingering protection he never expected, a protection that flows in your veins to this day. I put my trust, therefore, in your mother's blood. I delivered you to her sister, her only remaining relative."

"She doesn't love me," said Harry at once. "She doesn't give a damn —"

"But she took you," Dumbledore cut across him. "She may have taken you grudgingly, furiously, unwillingly, bitterly, yet still she took you, and in doing so, she sealed the charm I placed upon you. Your mother's sacrifice made the bond of blood the strongest shield I could give you."

"I still don't —"

"While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home, there he cannot hurt you. Your aunt knows this. I explained what I had done in the letter I left, with you, on her doorstep. She knows that allowing you houseroom may well have kept you alive for the past fifteen years."

"Wait," said Harry. "Wait a moment." I was thinking this all through.

"You sent that Howler. You told her to remember — it was your voice —"

"I thought," said Dumbledore, inclining his head slightly, "that she might need reminding of the pact she had sealed by taking you. I suspected the dementor attack might have awoken her to the dangers of having you as a surrogate son."

"It did," said Harry quietly. "Well — my uncle more than her. He wanted to chuck me out, but after the Howler came she — she said I had to stay." He stared at the floor for a moment, then said, "But what's this got to do with ..."

"Five years ago, then," continued Dumbledore, as though he had not paused in his story, "you arrived at Hogwarts, neither as happy nor as well nourished as I would have liked, perhaps, yet alive and healthy. You were not a pampered little prince, but as normal a boy as I could have hoped under the circumstances. Thus far, my plan was working well.And then ... well, you will remember the events of your first year at Hogwarts quite as clearly as I do. You rose magnificently to the challenge that faced you, and sooner — much sooner — than I had anticipated, you found yourself face-to-face with Voldemort. You survived again. You did more. You delayed his return to full power and strength. You fought a man's fight. I was ... prouder of you than I can say.Yet there was a flaw in this wonderful plan of mine," said Dumbledore. "An obvious flaw that I knew, even then, might be the undoing of it all. And yet, knowing how important it was that my plan should succeed, I told myself that I would not permit this flaw to ruin it. I alone could prevent this, so I alone must be strong. And here was my first test, as you lay in the hospital wing, weak from your struggle with Voldemort."

"I don't understand what you're saying," said Harry.

"Don't you remember asking me, as you lay in the hospital wing, why Voldemort had tried to kill you when you were a baby?" Harry nodded.

"Ought I to have told you then?"

"You do not see the flaw in the plan yet? No ... perhaps not. Well, as you know, I decided not to answer you. Eleven, I told myself, was much too young to know. I had never intended to tell you when you were eleven. The knowledge would be too much at such a young age.
I should have recognized the danger signs then. I should have asked myself why I did not feel more disturbed that you had already asked me the question to which I knew, one day, I must give a terrible answer. I should have recognized that I was too happy to think that I did not have to do it on that particular day... You were too young, much too young.

"And so we entered your second year at Hogwarts. Eliza started school here now. And once again you met challenges even grown wizards have never faced. Once again you acquitted yourself beyond my wildest dreams. You did not ask me again, however, why Voldemort had left that mark upon you. We discussed your scar, oh yes... We came very, very close to the subject. Why did I not tell you everything?

"Well, it seemed to me that twelve was, after all, hardly better than eleven to receive such information. I allowed you to leave my presence, bloodstained, exhausted but exhilarated, and if I felt a twinge of unease that I ought, perhaps, have told you then, it was swiftly silenced. You were still so young, you see, and I could not find it in me to spoil that night of triumph... Eliza you had been with Ron on the other side of the rock wall and I dares at that may have saved you, you'll see why soon...

"Do you see, Harry? Do you see the flaw in my brilliant plan now? I had fallen into the trap I had foreseen, that I had told myself I could avoid, that I must avoid."

"I don't —"

"I cared about you too much," said Dumbledore simply. " I cared about you both to much... Now Elizabeth, I couldn't of known what awaited you though I did see strings of it. I cared more for your happiness than your knowing the truth, more for your peace of mind than my plan, more for your life than the lives that might be lost if the plan failed. In other words, I acted exactly as Voldemort expects we fools who love to act.

"Is there a defense? I defy anyone who has watched you as I have — and I have watched you more closely than you can have imagined — not to want to save you more pain than you had already suffered. What did I care if numbers of nameless and faceless people and creatures were slaughtered in the vague future, if in the here and now you were alive, and well, and happy? I never dreamed that I would have such a person on my hands.

"We entered your third year. I watched from afar as you struggled to repel dementors, as you found Sirius, learned what he was and rescued him. Was I to tell you then, at the moment when you had triumphantly snatched your godfather from the jaws of the Ministry? But now, at the age of thirteen, my excuses were running out. Young you might be, but you had proved you were exceptional. My conscience was uneasy, Harry. I knew the time must come soon...

"But you came out of the maze last year, having watched Cedric Diggory die, having escaped death so narrowly yourself ... and I did not tell you, though I knew, now Voldemort had returned, I must do it soon. And now, tonight, I know you have long been ready for the knowledge I have kept from you for so long, because you have proved that I should have placed the burden upon you before this. My only defense is this: I have watched you struggling under more burdens than any student who has ever passed through this school, and I could not bring myself to add another — the greatest one of all."

Harry waited, but Dumbledore did not speak.

"I still don't understand."

"Voldemort tried to kill you when you were a child because of a prophecy made shortly before your birth. He knew the prophecy had been made, though he did not know its full contents. He set out to kill you when you were still a baby, believing he was fulfilling the terms of the prophecy. He discovered, to his cost, that he was mistaken, when the curse intended to kill you backfired. And so, since his return to his body, and particularly since your extraordinary escape from him last year, he has been determined to hear that prophecy in its entirety. This is the weapon he has been seeking so assiduously since his return: the knowledge of how to destroy you,"

"The prophecy's smashed," Harry said blankly.

"We were pulling Neville up those benches in the — the room where the archway was, and his robes ripped and it fell..."

"The thing that smashed was merely the record of the prophecy kept by the Department of Mysteries. But the prophecy was made to somebody, and that person has the means of recalling it perfectly."

"Who heard it?" asked Harry, though he thought he knew the answer already.

"I did," said Dumbledore. "On a cold, wet night sixteen years ago, in a room above the bar at the Hog's Head Inn. I had gone there to see an applicant for the post of Divination teacher, though it was against my inclination to allow the subject of Divination to continue at all. The applicant, however, was the great-great-granddaughter of a very famous, very gifted Seer, and I thought it common politeness to meet her. I was disappointed. It seemed to me that she had not a trace of the gift herself. I told her, courteously I hope, that I did not think she would be suitable for the post. I turned to leave."

"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... She said."

"Professor... What did that mean?" Asked Harry.

"It meant," said Dumbledore, "that the person who has the only chance of conquering Lord Voldemort for good was born at the end of July, nearly sixteen years ago. This boy would be born to parents who had already defied Voldemort three times."

"It means — me?"

"The odd thing is, Harry," he said softly, "that it may not have meant you at all. Sibyll's prophecy could have applied to two wizard boys, both born at the end of July that year, both of whom had parents in the Order of the Phoenix, both sets of parents having narrowly escaped Voldemort three times. One, of course, was you. The other was Neville Longbottom."

"But then ... but then, why was it my name on the prophecy and not Neville's?"

"The official record was relabeled after Voldemort's attack on you as a child," said Dumbledore. "It seemed plain to the keeper of the Hall of Prophecy that Voldemort could only have tried to kill you because he knew you to be the one to whom Sibyll was referring."

"Then — it might not be me?" said Harry.

"I am afraid," said Dumbledore slowly, looking as though every word cost him a great effort, "that there is no doubt that it is you."

"But you said — Neville was born at the end of July too — and his mum and dad —"

"You are forgetting the next part of the prophecy, the final identifying feature of the boy who could vanquish Voldemort... Voldemort himself would 'mark him as his equal.' And so he did, Harry. He chose you, not Neville. He gave you the scar that has proved both blessing and curse."

"But he might have chosen wrong!" said Harry.

"He might have marked the wrong person!"

"He chose the boy he thought most likely to be a danger to him," said Dumbledore. "And notice this, Harry. He chose, not the pureblood (which, according to his creed, is the only kind of wizard worth being or knowing), but the half-blood, like himself. He saw himself in you before he had ever seen you, and in marking you with that scar, he did not kill you, as he intended, but gave you powers, and a future, which have fitted you to escape him not once, but four times so far — something that neither your parents, nor Neville's parents, ever achieved."

"Why did he do it, then?" said Harry, "Why did he try and kill me as a baby? He should have waited to see whether Neville or I looked more dangerous when we were older and tried to kill whoever it was then —"

"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 Sibyll chose for its cheapness, has long attracted, shall we say, a more interesting clientele than the Three Broomsticks. As you and your friends found out to your cost, and I to mine that night, 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 Sibyll 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 first part, 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 — again marking you as his equal. So Voldemort never knew that there might be danger in attacking you, that it might be wise to wait or 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 strangled voice. "I haven't any powers he hasn't got, I couldn't fight the way he did tonight, I can't possess people or — or kill them —"

"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 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. That power took you to save Sirius tonight. That power also saved you from possession by Voldemort, because he could not bear to reside in a body so full of the force he detests. In the end, it mattered not that you could not close your mind. It was your heart that saved you."

I was now in such shock at what I was hearing that I stared out the window.

"So," said Harry slowly, "so 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. I could hear voices of students talking and getting ready for a very early breakfast.

"I feel I owe you another explanation, Harry," said Dumbledore hesitantly. "You may, perhaps, have wondered why I never chose you as a prefect? I must confess ... that I rather thought ... you had enough responsibility to be going on with."

I looked over at Harry. He looked pale.

"Now, Eliza... Harry I suggest you listen to this. Your story of your connection with Voldemort is a little confusing. You may be wondering why Bellatrix Lestrange and Voldemort himself called you Ellie last night, and why you've been having dreams in Ellie's point of view. Let me tell you a story:

Many years ago a young Tom Riddle started to attend Hogwarts. He was sorted into the Slytherin house. He did well, charmed  every girl, and professor-" started Dumbledore.

"Sir, what's this got to do with me?" I asked nervously.

"I will explain for now, just listen:

In Toms fourth year he met a girl named Ellie Welther. Ellie was in her fourth year here at Hogwarts in Gryffindor,"

Excitement was rising in me. I was finally going to find out who Ellie was...

"Now, as I said earlier Tom was used to everyone falling all over him, so when Ellie Welther didn't Tom became obsessed with the idea offering her to love him. But the problem was that Tom would never know how to love anyone. Tom is incapable of love as we all know. But that didn't mean he didn't enjoy people adoring him. So, as you can imagine, when Ellie didn't respond to Tom with being flattered Tom grew confused. Ellie had a personality of a true Gryffindor: she was brave and loyal but that would not do her much luck in all of her life. 

Tom slowly started to stalk Ellie and when Ellie would confront him about it Tom would grow very mad. As the years went on it got worse, tom would now not only stall Ellie he would also kidnap her and take her into the chamber of secrets. When she would talk to people other than his few select people she would be tortured as you know from the dreams. Ellie fought Tom for years and eventually Tom started to build up a army of people behind him. That was the very beginning of his rise to power. Now, Eliza, here is a important part, people began to not talk to Ellie because they realized that whenever someone did they would get hurt by someone or something. So, she got ignored, she began to fall into despair and hopelessly came to me one night once she had snuck away from Tom Riddle. She told me what had been happening and seemed like it was hard for her to tell me. But she told me about Tom, nothing about who was behind him. I told her that it would be okay. That is when she completely gave up hope. She lost her flare and began to stop trying in her classes and was taken to the hospital wing one night after having a complete mental breakdown. Here is where it gets to me guessing, Voldemort made things called horcruxes which is a form of dark magic that rips someone's soul in half and then allows the person to hide it in a object or organism. Tom Riddle did just that,"

"He-he ripped his soul in half? How? Why would anyone-" I began slowly.

"Because a horcrux allows someone to be reborn as a spirit after death. I won't tell you how to make one but I will say that it is dark, dark magic. When Tom was already in his seventh year he had been responsible for several deaths already. One night Tom called Ellie to him using the dark mark on her arm that he had forced onto her. I spotted her walking in the hall... Her eyes looked vacant but she went into the girls bathroom so I left her alone. That was my main mistake I am afraid," said Dumbledore solemnly.

"What... What happened to her?" I asked quietly.

"I am believed that Bellatrix Lestrange grew mad with her after the meeting of all the people. Ellie was the only person that ever bothered or made Bellatrix jealous. I have learned that Bellatrix murdered Ellie that night. When Tom found Ellie he did something unimaginable for someone as he is now. He saved her life... But not in a way you would think, no, there is no spell to reawaken the dead, Eliza. When Tom saw Ellie lying dead on the ground he summoned his Horcrux that was still knew and took the soul of Ellie and his alive soul and made them one soul to give Ellie another chance at life, but not right away," said Dumbledore. He sighed deeply as if trying to think of how to explain what was going to be said next. My heart was hammering fast.

"Professor... W-what do you mean?" I asked.

"Tom Marvalo Riddle gave someone another chance at life- but not because he loved her, but because he was possessive of her. He thought that she was kind of a pet of his that he could force to do his biddings like a stronger death eater. So, now Ellie Welther was dead in body but her soul lived on, mixed with none other than Voldemorts- Tom Riddles, the person who had tortured her for years. It takes years for a soul to be selected for a body and Ellie and Toms soul was chosen for-"

"No," I whispered frantically.

"Ellie and Toms mixed soul was given to you. You are Ellie Welther," said Dumbledore.

"No, P-professor I'm sorry but you have to be wrong-" I said trying to convince myself that he was wrong.

"When I first met you Ellie, I couldn't have known, yes, you had some physical characteristics of Ellie... Not physical... But your attitude. And you possess some characteristics of Tom... Your mystique characteristic,"

"No- but... What's- what's that mean I-I'm not me... I'm not Harry's brother? I- I lived a life before? No, no- not me," I said frantically looking at Dumbledore.

"Elizabeth, you are you. But you must understand that although you have lived a life before but, you are you. Bellatrix recognized you not physically but because of your attitude and how you called her Bella. Only few people do that. Now, many things are still unclear with you and what this means about you and Voldemort but I can tell you, Eliza, you do not want to put yourself in a position to see him any time soon. The fact that you are Ellie, a person he gave part of his own soul to, a soul that could revive him if he died, is a big bond. And that he knows it is very serious. Those men who attacked you months ago went after you because they knew you were Ellie. How, I don't know but they did. That is why I ask their this summer Eliza you remain extremely under the radar. And you Harry, both of you must be extremely careful. I beg you both to now go safely.," said Dumbledore. I knew that must have been some sort of dismissal but I still had one question.

"Sir, why did I only start getting these dreams/memories this year?" I asked trying to sound okay with all this information.

"Well, because Ellie was about your age when Tom came into her life," replied Dumbledore.

"But, does that mean I am now reliving for Ellie? Does she know?" I asked.

"Well, her afterlife does. You do to, so her soul now knows... But Eliza, just remember, you are Elizabeth Potter. Your brother is Harry. You live now not back then," he smiled and then Harry and myself both quietly left the classroom. My shirt was covered in blood and my hair was a wreck. Harry looked like he had been through hell in back. We both had blood on our faces and looked crazy.

When we got back to the common room after ignoring many concerned glances we went our separate ways. I got changed into a new outfit, it was a loose navy blue flannel with jeggings. I took out my hair and left I t down then met Harry in the common room. He had also gotten changed and his body was still bloody.

"We should got to the hospital wing," I said to him.

"We'd better before Madame Pomfrey hunts us down," said Harry with a laugh. I was happy that after that information we had just learned about both of us we were still laughing slightly. Before I realized I had wrapped my hands around Harry's neck and was hugging him. We stayed like that for a while before walking towards the hospital wing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
HEY FRIENDS!
So how did you like this chapter. A lot of it is straight from the order of the Phoenix in the beginning but the rest is made by me. Anyway do you guys think you'll continue reading once I get to the second book. Only 1 more chapter to go! Please remember to vote and add the story to your reading list/library. Follow me for when I post the next story so you'll know! I love you all so much! Thank you for 1.32k views! You are all so amazing and I love you and thank you for all of your support! Have the best day/night!
-mkkn454