abcnovels
Chapter 514
Chapter 514
The next day, Felix appeared at the Sword Castle and occupied a wide testing room alone, then he stood on the transfigurated wooden platform, and stared at a ten-foot-tall golem. This tall golem was hand-picked by him as one of the defense forces of the Sword Castle, to actively protect the public in the event of sudden danger.
The design is similar to the golem that Felix used previously for teaching at Hogwarts, but it is definitely more complex and has better protection measures. And Felix also tried to give it some basic intelligence. He had done something like that a long time ago, and to this day he still has that set of opera troupe golems in his ring.
However, before assigning them the guard duty, more precise commands need to be given to them, as it would be bad if the golem malfunctioned on the battlefield due to an oversight, or worse, if it couldn’t distinguish the enemy from friends all of a sudden … these issues need to be considered in advance.
Near noon, Clammy hurried in with a surprised face: “Dum- Headmaster Dumbledore is here!”
Felix looked down in surprise.
…
Outside the sword castle.
“Felix, I would like you to come with me to the Ministry of Magic.” Dumbledore said in a deep voice, “To the Department of Mysteries.”
When the two reappeared, they had arrived at the Ministry of Magic’s visitor’s entrance. With a creak, the red phone booth slowly descended and Felix asked the question on his mind, “What the hell is going on?”
“Amelia found two prophecies, I pretty much guessed what one of them was and wanted to let you know.” Dumbledore said briefly.
Department of Mysteries, Hall of Prophecy.
It is as tall as a school great hall but does not look empty due to the fact that the room is stacked with rows and rows of towering shelves filled with gray prophecy orbs, it looks like a very strange library. Except for three people, Felix, Dumbledore, and Ms. Bones, everyone else was kicked out for the time being, and Sirius reluctantly stood guard at the door with two Aurors.
“Almost fifteen years ago, you should have heard a prophecy?” Ms. Bones asked.
Dumbledore hesitated for a second before he nodded slightly and said, “That’s true.”
“Is this it?” Ms. Bones asked, pointing to a dusty shelf, Dumbledore leaned down and stared at a small glass orb on the shelf, it is dirty as if no one had cleaned it for many years, and glowing faintly like a firefly.
Felix’s gaze went to the other side, where there is a prophecy closely related to him, he had speculated many times, but still could not sort out the whole picture. Mainly because the key information is too vague, and plausible, with multiple possibilities.
Previously he had studied that prophecy for a while and then left it behind.
Felix focused his attention on Dumbledore, who is reading the yellowed label under the glass orb. It bore a date in fine print that dated roughly fifteen years ago, followed by a string of abbreviated letters.
S.P.T to A.P.W.B.D
Next to the initials is a scribbled note in handwritten writing: Dark Lord and (?) Harry Potter.
” It should be the one.” Dumbledore sighed as he straightened usked courteously, “May I?”
Ms. Bones made an inviting gesture, “All protective magic is withdrawn.”
Dumbledore nimbly probed the prophecy orb, and paused at the touch, then took hold of it. He closed his eyes slightly and his whole body remained motionless for a moment before he put the prophecy orb back gently as if he had woken up from a dream.
He murmured softly.
“I heard this prophecy with my own ears – about fifteen years ago on a cold and humid night in the Hog’s Head Inn in Hogsmeade, I went there to meet an applicant who wanted to be a professor of divination class. I wasn’t originally intended to keep that class open, but the applicant was the granddaughter of a very well-known seer, and out of courtesy, I decided to meet her in person …”
That person must be Trelawney, Felix thought to himself.
“So the prophecy is from that interview, at your request?” Ms. Bones asked.
“Yes and no,” Dumbledore said softly, seemingly going back to that night fifteen years ago. “I tried to talk to her then, and hoped she would show her talents a little, but the results were a great disappointment; in my opinion, she did not inherit her ancestor’s talent for divination at all, so I told her that she is not suitable for the position, and then turned to leave.”
Neither Ms. Bones nor Felix said anything, they knew the twist is coming.
“… Then she made a prophecy, a real prophecy,” Dumbledore murmured. He removed his wand from his robes and waved it hard in front of the two, a cloud of silvery smoke spewing from its tip, followed by a harsh, hoarse voice that rang out with an uncontainable frenzy as if she had contracted some sort of malady.
“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…”
The voice stopped. The silver smoke that condensed in the midair fell like snowflakes and disappeared before touching the ground. The three people watched the scene in silence.
“Although I read the information when I came, but -” Ms. Bones could not hide her inner shock.
Dumbledore slightly bowed his head, his eyes looked at them through the half-moon glasses.
“Honestly, I was skeptical, the prophecy is not as magical as I thought, and it does not always come true, otherwise there would be no need for the Ministry of Magic to send special personnel to follow and observe the progress of the prophecy. But in any case, the applicant finally made a prophecy, or a very dangerous one, and it would be irresponsible to ask her to leave any longer.”
“Indeed, I asked the unspeakables before, and it would be lucky if even half of the prophecies here came true.” Bones offered corroboration.
“So you took her in and protected her?” Felix asked.
“I didn’t have much of a choice.” Dumbledore nodded slightly, “Especially since the prophecy was heard by a third person, though not entirely. It couldn’t be helped that Sybill was struggling to make ends meet and had to live in a cheap and fishy Hog’s Head Inn, and I didn’t expect to get anything worthwhile out of that interview; it just happened. That eavesdropper – in my perception at the time – is most likely a Death Eater, and that’s all the more reason I couldn’t risk letting Sybill roam around the magical world alone.”
Felix then realized how Sybill Trelawney had ended up teaching at the school years ago.
So, it’s not entirely Dumbledore’s misjudgment uh … rather he was afraid that she would be caught by Voldemort …
“The eavesdropper didn’t hear the whole prophecy?” Ms. Bones asked keenly.
“He only heard the first three sentences.” Dumbledore said.
The three remained silent, each pondering something on their mind.
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…
So it is Harry Potter. Felix thought, but Neville can also barely be included in it, after all, the two of their birthdays are just one day apart, both at the end of July. But maybe Voldemort has OCD? That’s why he finally went with Harry, whose birthday was further behind? Or is that prophecy at work, ‘the Dark Lord will mark him as equal’, Voldemort did not choose the pure-blooded Neville, but Harry, who is a half-blood like him.
“Perhaps I made a mistake,” Dumbledore suddenly said, “and my actions – agreeing to Sybill’s entry into Hogwarts for teaching – may have driven the prophecy to happen. Consider this: the loyal servant told Voldemort the prophecy he heard, hoping that his master would break free from his established destiny, yet he only heard the first few sentences, as a result, Voldemort was unaware of the considerable risk he was actually taking by doing so, and – to put it politely – Voldemort was so wary of me that he may have confirmed the prophecy from my actions of sheltering Sybill.”
But the truth is that no one can accurately predict what will happen the next day, let alone much further into the future than that; just as you can’t expect perfect saints to exist in reality, both of which are unlikely to be true.
“There is a second prophecy.” After a few moments, Ms. Bones said.
She led the two to another shelf, and Felix looked a little odd as he got a familiar sight. As they drew closer, Dumbledore showed a startled expression as he walked quickly past one shelf after another, and stopped before Ms. Bones to gaze at a brand-new label. It bore the clear writing.
S.P.T to H.J.P. (to be verified)
Dumbledore looked closely at the date on the label, and after a little thought, he came to the obvious conclusion: the prophecy occurred during the final exams of the last school year, and the two people who made the prophecy at that time, the seer’s initials remained exactly the same, or Trelawney. And the other one is also familiar to him –
“Harry James Potter,” Ms. Bones said, “that’s supposed to be that boy’s full name, right? I checked it with Sirius.”
“I think the prophecy mentions me.” Dumbledore said, a bright light sparkling in his azure eyes.
“It probably mentions me too.” Felix said slowly, and then he added, “I feel very connected.”
“This prophecy is not as highly regarded as the first, nor is it under heavy enchantments for protection, but the fact is – I looked through Bode’s notes,” Ms. Bones took a deep breath, her eyes widened, ” It’s probably the most special one in the entire Hall of Prophecy.”
“Why do you say that?” Felix asked with interest.
“Because you two aren’t the only ones who can feel the difference in it, I feel it too. It’s not a coincidence, as anyone who tries to get close to it will experience a warm feeling of closeness from it. This means that …”
“The prophecy covers a huge range of people.” Felix snapped back to attention.
“That’s right,” Ms. Bones said with approval, “I guess it might have something to do with the first two sentences. You’d better take a look first.”
After a long while, Dumbledore calmly handed the prophecy orb to Felix and then fell into deep thought.
Although Felix already knew the prophecy, he still listened to it again. “The unprecedented change of a thousand years… The legendary drama is thus played… ho- The clown returns on the drumbeat, the warrior is ready to go, the lion grows old, the firebird of Nirvana – Time! Time!”
“The unprecedented change of a thousand years… The legendary drama …” Dumbledore said softly, “So, we are all on the stage, and this prophecy announces a whole era.”
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