Chapter 55 The Book of Destiny

Albus Dumbledore smiled sadly when he saw Harry and Severus entering together the small restaurant of the 'Commandement des Operations Speciales'.

Severus had his hand on Harry's shoulder, the boy looked up to the young druid. Nevertheless, it was neither silly admiration nor a sudden hero-worshipping: Harry's eyes reflected trust and respect for the lder man. They spoke softly. Dumbledore could not make out what they were
discussing, but both seemed sufficiently hooked not to pay much attention to him and his solitary cup of tea in a corner of the canteen. The old wizard had the strange feeling that somehow during the last night he had lost Harry to his elusive and secretive French godson. After four years of hatred and spite, the two stood together on a solid ground...trust and respect!

He took another sip of tea and continued his observation: They choose a table out in the open air on the veranda. The NCO who managed the place came with a huge pot of steaming hot coffee, a pot of milk and a plate full of fresh pastries. They had hardly started to wolf down croissants
and pains au chocolate, when Severus' friend and comrade Damien Tremayne joined them and instantly integrated the conversation with great ease. Harry smiled openly at the second French officer. There was laughter and carefree behavior on both sides. Even Severus habitually
cold eyes sparkled lively and his gaunt, stern features were much softer then ever at Hogwarts.

It did not take long and two more combat fatigues found their way to the table out in the open air: Alain Genty and Yvan Denez Pregent joined.

A few words made their way over to the Headmaster's table. It was strange. Although the nightly operation at Southwark must have left an impression on all of them, none seemed willing to even tackle the subject...not even Harry!

'A gallon for their thoughts, Albus?'

Alastor Moody had taken his seat by the Headmaster's side, nudging the old wizard's shoulder comfortingly.

'Try to understand and accept, my friend! Wasn't this what you always wanted for him? A substitute for the father he lost too early in life? A role model? Someone to provide him with the necessary guidance while he grows from child to young man!'

The one-legged auror took a sip from a can of orange juice the canteen master had thoughtfully placed in front of him. His magic eye for once rested motionlessly in its socket whereas his normal eye observed together with Albus.

'Yes Alastor and no! This parting of the ways is hard for an old man who has grown accustomed to a privileged place in that child's heart. Perhaps I should have been more straightforward, blunt and honest! Perhaps I would have served him and me better by telling things as they
are!'

Moody shook his head.

'No Albus, you did most of it right...you made only one single mistake...to give the boy to Lily's sister and her fat, nightmarish husband instead of allowing him to France and
Montmuran.'

'And what would have become of him if I had let him go to Montmuran at once? It was simply too dangerous at that moment!'

Moody scowled.

'Too dangerous? The situation would be the same as today, only with Harry having been prepared from the cradle off for what has to come. Let me assure you that you still have a big place in the boy's heart. Although he was a bit disappointed with all of us yesterday, full of
doubts and suspecting that you and I and Fillon were but old, ruthless and cold-blooded bastards! You see, Albus, I believe that he understood somewhere in the middle of this night's strange events that this was not the case. Perhaps Father Le Floa'ch explained something or even Severus
gave him a hint, when Harry went down to the hangar before they departed for England... We all had to lay our peculiar roles in this game: He, you, I, Sev and his comrades...Look at them carefully and you
will realize that Harry simply got himself an elder brother...probably even a band of elder brothers. Nothing else.'

Dumbledore nodded, but his nod lacked conviction. An elder brother, several elder brothers, who would willingly convene experiences and advice at Harry's request would be a factor he could live with. But the Headmaster doubted that the relationship between Harry and his godson
would stop there: Severus was extremly hard to manipulate and when he had once made up his mind to do or not to do something, it was impossible to turn him away from a decision taken. In this respect the young one was not much different from either Harry's late father James or his
godfather Sirius Black, but he lacked the recklessness of the two Marauders. He tended to substitute dashing bravado with silent courage, cold calculation...and with an old-fashioned code of honor!

'Alastor!'

Dumbledore lowered his voice and threw the former Head of Unspeakables a conspirators glance.

'I...have the strange feeling that someone made Harry aware of the Trelawney Prophecies...someone who believes firmly and in a very stubborn manner that both predictions are nothing more then the worthless haberdashery of a drunken woman!'

Moody shrugged his shoulders.

'Why are you so dead frightened of Harry being aware of the contents of the prophecies. If Trelawney was right -as you firmly believe - then he, as the most concerned should at last know what he is up against. That is simply fair and honest.'

Dumbledore squeezed Moody's arm hard and made him go silent in an instant. The habitually warm and twinkling blue eyes of the Headmaster had turned suddenly to cold steel.

'Alastor, are you out of your mind? Did you never ever read the first prophecy thoroughly from eginning till end: ,The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches...born to those who have trice 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 months dies...'

'Indeed Albus, I do know these lines by heart. So what suddenly? This prophecies dates back to 1981 and never ever changed since.'

Moody's normal eye fixed his lifelong friend Dumbledore, while his magic eye curiously observed the table with Harry and the Fellowship of the Ponytail. It was so easy for him to understand this carefree behavior and cheerful mood over there. In was an effort to mentaly cope with the bloodshed they had been involved in a few hours earlier. He supposed that neither of them had slept in order to prevent having nightmares…they would go without sleeping until they would feel able to sleep soundly from sheer physical exhaustion!

'...and either must die at the hand of the other, for neither canlive while the other survives! Alastor, I am afraid that this means that Harry cannot survive Voldemort's demise. The more I think of this
prophecy, the more I conclude that it is not an 'either-or' situation: In order to destroy the Dark Lord Harry has to go to his own death. Now explain this clearly to a fifteen years old and then expect him to
continue on his way in order to fulfill his destiny? I kept the information from Harry on purpose, not to upset or to frighten the child. Sometimes, in order to save many, we have to sacrifice a few and
even those we love. These are the rules of war since the beginning of time. Harry's fate has been written down before he was born. What has been written down in the Book of Destiny cannot be changed by Man!'

Moody gave a deep sigh. He had a feeling that Dumbledore had become obsessed over the years with the Trelawney Prophecies, putting all his energy into it to make them self-fulfilling. The fight against Voldemort had become a game of chess, Albus playing white and the Dark
Lord playing black. Each time one placed a pawn on the board the other placed a pawn in reply...the cold logic of a game. Nothing more!

Albus wanted to win, Voldemort wanted to win. It had become a personal struggle between two brilliant minds and neither accepted that the pawns on the chessboard were living, thinking and feeling beings with own ideas about their future and their destiny. Alastor had never
doubted Tom Riddle being a manipulative bastard, but he had always believed that Albus Dumbledore through his own experiences in the War with Grindlewald had kept a minimum amount of umanity inside, humanity that was not to be overcome by the cold logic of a game of chess.

Now he understood slowly and painfully that he had been wrong all those years: Both, Voldemort and Albus were cold and manipulative bastards without scruples or doubts, only their aims in life were different: Voldemort aspired to a complete revolution of the political system of
wizarding England. He wanted to establish a new balance of power, overthrowing the traditional Order of the Phoenix and its hereditary members and replace them with his own Order - the Death Eaters , hese self-styled heirs to Salazar Slytherin's 'Knights of Walpurgis' ...

Albus wanted to maintain the old system that excluded Slytherins from the political power in England while outlawing them immediately as genetically dark wizards bound to evil and mischief and impossible to reform and integrate into the average wizard society. Was it not this
attitude of Slytherin equals Evil that had pushed a young Tom Riddle over the edge and into the claws of Grindlewald, the idealistic philosopher turned crusading warlock in the early days of the Twentieth century?

For all Dumbledore's cherishing of half-blood and muggle-born wizards; was this only a cold-blooded effort to broaden the power base of the English wizarding establishment and its highest social level, the hereditary members of the Order of the Phoenix?

Moody's magical eye concentrated even more on the table on the veranda, where young Potter was happily chatting with Severus, Damien, Yvan and Alain.

It was interesting: None of these four men in French uniforms would be
considered a pureblood over in England!

With a heavy amount of fairy blood from his mother's side and Merlin's Devil's heritage in his veins, Severus would be considered a magical creature under English wizarding law…..close to a unicorn or a phoenix perhaps but still hardly better then the standard house elf or the average vampire. With his ancestry he would never have been able to attend Hogwarts and he would be denied the right to own a wand.

Damien Tremayne's ancestry was similar to Severus' although he lacked the splash of Devil's blood and Alain Genty was an interesting crossbred too, with Heaven knows what magical creatures showing up all over his long family tree. The last of the Fellowship of the Ponytail, Yvan Denez Pregent was the child of a Breton elf - a Korrigan - and a muggle. A closer look at his
slightly pointed ears gave away his interesting ancestry to knowledgeable
onlookers, but habitually his long hair hid the ear tips nicely.

Minister Delacour's daughter who had attended Hogwarts as the
Beaubaxton's competitor in the Triwizard Tournament had Veela blood
from her mother's side and Olympe Maxime was half-giant like Hagrid and
nevertheless Headmistress of the highly reputed French wizarding school
close to Fontainebleau...

They had done their revolution two centuries ago and although it had been a terrible struggle in which
hundreds of thousands had perished -including innocent bystanders and muggles from all over Europe - it had somehow turned out right. One could claim the same for the Germans, for the Italians, for the Dutch, the Belgians and by now even for the countries of Central and Eastern
Europe. They had let go a feudalist system in order to embrace republican forms of government for magic and non-magic folks alike. Moreover, those who still had kingly heads of state , like the Scandinavian countries , kept them for show and tradition.

There was no hereditary institution like the Order of the Phoenix left in whatever European
country...they had parliaments and elections...

Moody shuddered slightly at the thought: The situation was exactly the same in non-magic England! Only the magic England had not managed to follow the changing of the tides and was single-handedly clutching to a system of power that had been established by William Duke of Normandy, when he
had conquered England in 1066 (1).

Could their constant problem with Dark Lords and power struggles lay in this political shortfall and in the dealings of William's Norse wizard advisors with the Anglo-Saxon wizards nobility (2)? The Order of the Phoenix had been their creation and its hereditary members were all
from the old Norse wizards' families that had come with William over
from Normandy. The Order traditionally excluded those whose origins went further back in the history of the British Isles and it excluded what remained of the ancient Celtic druid aristocracy of the
country...

'No!'

Alastor murmured to himself.

'On this I am wrong! They refused to join, since the did not believe in a concentration of power in the hand of an elected few. They were always claiming the balance of powers
and their political independence. And this was the very reason why Merlin had
refused to co-operate in the establishment of Hogwarts from the very
beginning. He had predicted that it would only lead to a rift one day
or another...a rift between the founders and a rift that would only
lead to endless struggle and strife.'

Indeed, the Old One had been right...the rift had occurred with
Salazar Slytherin almost exactly at the same moment, when non-magic
England had been shaken by the death of William the Conqueror and the
struggle of power between his three sons(3) and until today, with
almost one thousand years that had gone bye, the situation inside magic
England was still not stable.

The heirs of Slytherin fought with the heirs of Gryffindor for the ultimate price of supreme power: While
Gryffindors always prevailed in the light of the day; Slytherins had thoroughly managed to undermine and shake their bases of power. And now Dumbledore, direct descendant of William FitzOsbern, the most trusted Norse sorcerer of William the Conqueror and who had given his life to
the King's cause in 1071 at Cassel was trying to force the decision that his ancestor had been unable to force through against Salazar, the one Anglo-Saxon mage who had been able to ingratiate himself with the new Norman power of England.

Alastor Moody threw a short glance at Albus Dumbledore. The old wizard had kept his silence for a while and was looking absentmindedly at his empty cup of tea. Then with a swift move he pushed his aged frame out of the chair and walked over to the table with the Fellowship of the
Ponytail and Harry.

'Severus, may I have a word with you, please?'

'Take a seat, Alastor.'

The young druid replied with a smile. His mind had been completely taken off the operation at Southwark and all the troubles of life while he was discussing silly things and sailing boats and games of Quidditch and childish pranks with his three comrades and the 'Boy-who-should-keep-his-mind-at-defeating-Voldemort' over coffee and pastries.

'Under four eyes!'

'Well!'

Snape excused himself shortly and stood up to follow Moody. They walked from the terrace down to the small garden in front of the old manor of Quérelen.

'What is it, Alastor? I am not blind. I saw you and Albus brooding over your teapot, exchanging looks as if the end of the world has come. What happened?'

Although Severus was one hundred percent sure that his strong silencing charm over Harry's room during their nightly chat had prohibited even a powerful wizard like Dumbledore from listening into their conversation, he was also aware that his godfather had other magic means to spy on
people. Not that he was afraid of the consequences of his openness towards the boy and the revelation of the two Trelawney Prophecies! He was convinced that he had done the right thing and given the boy the right piece of advice for the future. He was only surprised that Albus
had not come himself in order to confront him.

Moody put his hand on the younger man's shoulder and fixed him. His face was serious and his magic eye for once did not move in its socket.

'Severus, please give me an honest answer to my question! Was Salazar Slytherin one of the White Brotherhood before he took service with William the Conqueror after the defeat of Harald Hadrada at Hastings?'

'What?'

Snape was completely taken aback and almost choked on the one
word he spoke in reply to Moody's question. His habitual composure had
disappeared. He blushed like a teenager and his dark fathomless raven
eyes suddenly glowed like coal on fire.

'I do not understand, Alastor!'

He pressed these few words through clenched teeth.

'Please, Sev! Calm down and simply reply with a 'Yes' or a 'No'! It is really important for me to know and many things depend upon this answer. Trust me, boy! For once in your life, trust someone who is not of your own blood.'

Although Moody's voice had been very calm and controlled, his normal eye betrayed compassion and his scar-ridden ugly face flew over with strange emotions that rated from fear to hope. It had cost the old auror a lot to allow the young man to look straight into his remaining human eye and -if Severus chose so - to penetrate his mind and read it at will. But for a reason unknown to Alastor the young druid decided to refuse the proposal and not to invade his mind with Legilemency.

'He was, Alastor! Nevertheless, they expelled him four hundred years before the
Norman Conquest, when Arthur Pendragon became King of Upper and Lower Britain. I do not know the reason why. I do not know...none of the White Brotherhood does. Only Merlin!'

'And the Dark Lord? Do you know if he is truly a Heir to Salazar Slytherin?'

Again Snape shook his head.

'No, I cannot tell you, Alastor and I am not even sure that Merlin can answer this question. Back there in the Dark Ages when Arthur retrieved the Sword of Power from the Stone to fight the invasions of Evil nobody kept records of family lines...legends yes, but facts? The Gods may know who is the heir of Salazar and who is the heir of Goddric, but neither man nor wizard can ever tell. The same goes for the two other founders, Helga Hufflepuff and Rowena Ravenclaw: Legend claim that
Helga was Gryffindor's mate, while Rowena chose to share Salazar's bed for a while...legend, Alastor! Those times of old saw many strange things, the veil between the three Worlds was thin and no frontier existed between Man and Magic. These times are gone bye and
we are living in another world today. I do not think that it is important, who is heir to whom and who can claim this or that ancestor. All that is important today is to prevent unnecessary bloodshed and a conflict that may get out of control if a creature like 'You-know-who' succeeds with his master plan and grand strategy.'

'How?'

Snape shrugged his shoulders. 'Time will show, Alastor. Let us get on
with what we have started. Maybe we are wrong and at the end we will
fail. Maybe we are right and we prevail. Prophecies are one fine thing, but
in the end there is nothing written down for sure in the Book of Destiny!'

---

(1)About 1065, the powerful English noble, Harold, earl of Wessex, was shipwrecked on the Norman coast and taken prisoner by William, released only when he swore support to William's claim to the throne. When King Edward died, however the royal council (witenagemot) , elected Harold
as King. William secured the sanction of Pope Alexander II for a Norman invasion of England. William and his army landed at Pevensey on September 28th , 1066. On October 14th the Normans defeated the English forces at the Battle of Hastings, where Harold was lain. William then
proceeded to London, crushing any resistance which he encountered on the way. On Christmas day he was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey. William met opposition as the English would not accept foreign rule without a struggle, which was particularly violent in the North
and West, William, therefore, is responsible for devastation of great areas of the country. In particular, Yorkshire, where Danish forces arrived to aid the Saxon rebels. By 1070, the Norman conquest of
England was complete. William invaded Scotland in 1072 and forced the Scottish King Malcolm III Mac Duncan to pay him homage. During the succeeding years William crushed insurrections among his Norman followers, included the one incited by Ralph de Guader, first Earl of
Norfolk and Roger Fitzwilliam, earl of Hereford in 1075, and a series of uprisings in Normandy, led by his eldest son, Robert II , duke of Normandy.

William the Conqueror's achievements include the re-organization of the English feudal and administrative systems. He dissolved the great earldoms, which had enjoyed virtual independence under his Anglo-Saxon predecessor, and distributed the lands confiscated from the English to
his trusted Norman followers. He introduced the continental system of feudalism; by the oath of Salisbury in 1086 all landlords swore allegiance to William thus establishing the precedent that a vassals loyalty to the King overrode his fealty to his immediate lord. The feudal lords were compelled to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the local courts which William retained along with many Anglo-Saxon institutions. The ecclesiastical and secular courts were separated, and the power of the papacy in English affairs was greatly curtailed. another outstanding accomplishment was the economic survey undertaken and incorporated in the Doomsday Book in 1086.

(2)As soon as he was secure in his new kingdom William dispossessed the Anglo-Saxon nobility, and granted castles and landed estates, 'fiefs' or 'honors', to the leading Norman barons. In return they paid homage to the king, promised to be faithful to him and provided him with
military service. There was a similar relationship between the barons and their own knights. In theory landholdings were not hereditary, the heir of a dead man having to pay to take it over, but inheritance by the first born son soon became commonplace.

To prevent any individual baron becoming too strong and establishing a regional base for rebellion William ensured that their possessions were scattered over different parts of the country. On the Welsh border, or 'March', the earls of Chester, Hereford and Shrewsbury were given larger landholdings than most other barons as they needed to raise sufficient forces to defend England against the Welsh.

(3)The death of William was followed by serious events in England and Normandy alike. The great Norman barons tried to extract themselves from the authority of William Rufus under the pretext of supporting the birthright of Robert Curthose. In fact they hoped for greater autonomy
from a more distant and more dilute authority, but William Rufus firmly established his government of England and drove out the insurgents. His reign was characterized by the Norman expansion at the Scottish and Welsh borders, but also by troubled relations with the Church, especially with Anselm of Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1092 to 1098. Robert, for his part was unable to keep control over his Duchy which was subject to revolts by the powerful and by numerous private
wars. In 1090 the capital of Normandy, Rouen itself, rose up against the Duke. The third son of William, Henry took advantage of these circumstances to first establish himself in Cotentin and subsequently in the Domfront region where he built the first square keep (1092).

The disorders in Normandy were such that William Rufus was called upon to intervene on two occasions. The first time was in 1091, when he allied himself with Robert against their brother Henry. The second time, in 1094, he reversed this alliance and provided Henry with the
resources with which to attack Robert.