Kreacher was sure that his mistress would be pleased with his cleaning work when she arrived home, but was disappointed when Bellatrix walked through the door carrying several shopping bags, upending all but one atop the living floor. From the upended bags poured Christmas decorations of all sorts along with several strands of Christmas lights-and last, but not least, a live Christmas tree desperately in need of watering, as evinced by all the dry pine needles that fell off the branches as the tree hit the floor.
"Try to make the place look festive," Bellatrix mumbled, walking toward Harry's bedroom with the other shopping bag.
Kreacher stared at the pile of decorations in astonishment. In the background, he heard the door to Master Harry's bedroom shut quietly. "Kreacher deck the halls," Kreacher cursed, grabbing a string of lights.
Near sundown, the house elf finally finished decorating. Kreacher then proceeded to the kitchen to prepare dinner for his mistress and then popped into Harry's bedroom to deliver the meal. Bellatrix lay drowsing on top of the bed cover, a thick tome resting on her chest. The scent of dinner woke her and she looked at Kreacher blearily.
"Thank you, Kreacher," she said.
"Mistress Belly is too kind, thanking her elf," Kreacher said without obvious sarcasm, setting down the dinner on a table next to several measured doses of healing potions. "Does Mistress have any other demands?"
"Go ahead and return to Grimmauld Place or to wherever Sirius is," Bellatrix yawned. "Feel free to do whatever they request, but don't give them information about me. If they try to press you on information, disappear and ignore them for a little while.
"As mistress commands," Kreacher said.
.....
"It doesn't really work that way, Headmaster," Rose Potter said diplomatically. She leaned forward as her hazel eyes peered earnestly into Professor Dumbledore's blue ones. Subconsciously, she reached back and smoothed her dark brown hair. "I need to know facts. I need to be invested emotionally. The pump must be primed."
"I see," Professor Dumbledore said, frowning faintly and breaking the unwelcome eye contact with the middle Potter child. "You have declared that Leo Black is not the subject of the prophecy. Did you not see who it was that was the true subject of the prophecy?"
"No, I did not," Rose said, leaning back into the cushions of an armchair located in James Potter's personal study. Professor Dumbledore had commandeered the room for the interview during a visit to the Potter residence.
"Would you mind telling me what precisely you saw?" Dumbledore asked.
Rose shrugged remorsefully. "I'm sorry, but I don't feel that it would be appropriate."
Dumbledore looked disapprovingly at Rose over the rims of his half-moon spectacles. "Would you care to explain why not?"
Rose met Professor Dumbledore's gaze directly. "What I saw was seen on behalf of Leo."
"Perhaps I could explain the situation and then you could offer me insight," Dumbledore suggested, beginning to feel a little bit frustrated.
"Of course," Rose said, spreading her hands to signify that she was open to helping the aged headmaster with his situation.
"My priority is to gain understanding of who the subjects of the prophecy are. My secondary objective is to gain knowledge about the person that confronted Walburga Black. It is my own personal opinion that there could be a connection between the prophecy subjects and the mysterious intruder," Dumbledore explained. "Especially if it turns out that your statement that Leo is not the prophecy subject is true."
"You do realize that I have never heard the prophecy in its entirety," Rose reminded Professor Dumbledore. "I think I would have to hear it before offering an authoritative opinion on it."
Dumbledore was beginning to feel that this interview with Rose had been a bad idea, but he was desperate for any advantage or supernaturally gained fact she might offer him. Reluctantly, Dumbledore told her the prophecy on condition that she shared it with no one else.
"The One with the Power to vanquish the Dark Lord shall come… he who is marked the equal of the Dark Lord… he who is tied to the Daughter of the Stars and has altered her path in the heavens… from the seat of the Blacks he will haunt the Dark Lord's paths and have power the Dark Lord knows not… and One must die at the hands of the other, for neither can live while the other survives. The One with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord shall come."
Professor Dumbledore studied Rose intently. "Are you feeling anything?"
Rose shrugged. "Why did you assume that it had to be Leo?"
Briefly, Dumbledore explained that circumstances had led him to conclude that the prophesied one was a Black heir that was not alive at the time of the prophecy.
"When did the previous Lord Black die?" Rose asked.
"Orion Black passed away approximately twenty years ago," Dumbledore explained.
"And who inherited?" Rose asked.
"Apparently, nobody."
....
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