Author's Note: The penultimate chapter.

Thanks for this chapter go to my lovely livejournal readers for all their support, especially Catherine, Katinka, Brielle, Pepperland, Emma, Rosey, Stargazer, Kellibus, Stereo M, Gryfny, Liz, Pineapple Queen, Katie, rocky, and Atropos, and to the members of my beloved writing workshop. Thanks also to Swish and Flick for answering a British language question and to Elanor, as always, for the timely and helpful beta.

This chapter is dedicated to Y, one of my most dedicated and supportive readers, for all her help and encouragement over the years.

Please bear in mind that this fic was started many years ago (i.e. early 2001), and therefore is now no longer canon-compliant, as OotP and HBP directly contradicted some of my plot points.

Chapter 16 – The Prophecy Decyphered

That morning, at breakfast, Professors McGonagall, Dellenkamp, Flitwick, and Alkalli pulled aside members of the night's Astronomy class. Eventually, Jorman Bond and Sirius Black were summoned and trudged reluctantly from the Great Hall following the teachers. Lily, James, Remus, Peter, and Arabella chatted idly over their breakfast, hypothesising about possible punishments and glancing occasionally at the doors, waiting for Sirius to return. Finally, Sirius slouched in and flopped, scowling, into a chair.

"Well?" James asked, buttering a piece of toast.

"We each got a detention."

"That's not fair! Bond started it!" Lily said. "I heard what he said to you! It was unfair and totally uncalled for, and he deserved to get his nose broken!"

"Is it just me," James asked, waving his fork towards the Slytherin table, "or is Bond's nose not quite as straight as it used to be?"

"Surely not. Madam Pince can do almost anything, surely she can make a nose straight," Remus replied, squinting.

Lily looked over to the Ravenclaw table. She and Anita had been too tired to discuss their final revelation last night, but with the end of term in only two days and both of them going home for the Easter holidays, they had to meet up and talk about it as a matter of urgency. Lily saw Anita look up and meet her gaze. Anita jerked her head slightly. Lily nodded, muttered an excuse to the boys who were discussing the finer points of Bond's nasal shape, and met Anita as she left the hall.

"Do we go to Bastion?" Lily asked without any preamble.

"We have to. We promised."

"We don't have the whole thing."

Anita hit herself in the forehead. "Of course, we don't do we? We still have no idea about the hawk and wolf, do we?"

"What do you think?"

"I think meet up in the library. You all right to skip lunch?"

Lily shrugged. "Sure, why not? Maybe it'll save me listening to Sirius whinging about being put on detention for last night."

"Well, I can understand it. Bond deserved it, but violence isn't the answer."

"What did he say to you last night?"

Anita flushed. "I'd really rather not say. It was very uncomplimentary and it was about my father."

"Of course it was," Lily sighed. "Your father's a Muggle. You know, when I got my letter, I had no idea there'd be all this rubbish. It's bad enough living with Petunia, who feels the same way about witches that Bond feels about Muggles."

Anita looked at her watch. "We'd better hurry, or we'll be late for class. See you in Potions."

Lily waved to Anita's retreating back and sighed. She'd forgotten about the rest of the prophecy. But at least they'd have something to give Bastion.

She felt uneasy about the whole affair. She was sure that her mysterious hexing earlier in the year had been connected to the prophecy. Now she and Anita had it almost figured out, what would happen to them? She only hoped that whoever had hexed her then didn't know about the progress they'd made. Knowing that was, of course, made more difficult by the fact that she just couldn't remember who it was who had hexed her. She had a complete blank in her memory, which according to Madam Pince, meant someone had used a Memory Charm on her. She hated not knowing.

Being a witch was certainly far more dangerous than she'd imagined when she got that letter a year and a half ago.

Anita had a bad feeling about Potions before she even walked into the dungeon. She didn't think Jorman Bond – or at least his pride - would have recovered fully from the previous night's events. Nor did she imagine Sirius would be sick of crowing over Bond's broken nose. She entered the classroom and took a seat between Sarah and Lily, pulling her book, quill, parchment, and ink from her bag.

"So. How's Sirius?" she asked.

"Alternating between gloating and being annoyed that he got a detention. How's Bond?"

"Furious." Anita noticed that they were both being very careful not to mention anything about the prophecy. Maybe the idea that they nearly had it solved had driven the dangers home to Lily. Certainly Anita remembered all the uncertainty she had felt throughout the year, all the sense of danger at working on something which involved Lord Voldemort, all the fear in Raven's face when he told her about his dreams. She shivered. In truth, she couldn't wait to hand everything over to Bastion.

"How is everyone today?" Alkalli asked as he walked to the board. "I hope that we all understand that there are to be no outbreaks of fisticuffs in my class."

Sirius sighed loudly. There was a brief outburst of dog-imitations from the Slytherins.

"That's so immature," Sarah said, rolling her eyes.

"When did that ever stop them?" Anita replied.

"Hey, Bond, your nose is crooked," Sirius called. Bond scowled at him. Then he turned to Avery, who sat next to him and asked a question in a low voice, running his hand over his nose.

"I don't believe it. I had no idea Bond was so vain," Lily said, incredulous.

"Well, apparently he is," Anita replied. "Still on for lunchtime?"

"You bet."

"Reckon we'll, you know, get it?" Anita asked as most of the class moved to the front of the classroom to hand in their homework. She kept her question vague to thwart any unseen eavesdroppers. Raven gave them an idle glance as he walked past. "Suppose we'd better hand in our homework. Want me to take yours?"

"Sure, thanks."

Bond, Avery, and Snape walked past, glaring at where Sirius and James were just resuming their seats.

"I can't wait to get away from all this bickering," Anita remarked to Lily as she took her friend's essay.

Finally, after Anita, last to do so, had returned to her seat, they were able to start work on Potions. It was hard to block out the Marauders' and Slytherins' constant bickering. It was made impossible when a piece of parchment, which Anita assumed was aimed at Sirius, hit her instead. On it was a drawing of a dog, captioned Star boy's mother. Anita's face twisted in disgust and she tore it up. Bond's moniker for Sirius wasn't even particularly clever and bringing poor Mrs. Black into it - it was simply sickening. Meanwhile, Severus Snape and James were glaring at each other and appeared to be exchanging some sort of insult with Remus and Peter looking at each other, apparently trying to decide whether or not to intervene.

"Get me out of here," Anita muttered to Lily as she added the final shredded starflower stem to the potion and watched it turn from a sickly green to a deep blue. "Is it meant to be that colour?"

Lily glanced down at her book. "Yes."

"Good." Anita sighed and leaned against the wall. "Hey, have you spoken to Raven much lately?"

Lily put a hand on her chin, frowned, then shook her head with a slow, deliberate motion. "No … I don't think so. Since when?"

"I'm not sure. About since the Quidditch match. I think he's avoiding me."

"He hasn't said anything to me."

Anita frowned and pushed herself away from the wall to peer into the cauldron. "The potion looks all right."

"All right, everyone," Alkalli said, clapping his hands. "Judgment time." He moved around the classroom, examining potions. When he leaned over Anita's shoulder he nodded, dipped a ladle into the potion and checked the consistency. "Very nice."

Anita emptied out the cauldron and began to clean it while Lily packed up the ingredients.

"Oh, drat!" Lily exclaimed as the bottle she reached for fell over, spilling crocodile scales across the desk. She and Anita had to pause to gather the green flakes and return them to their container. As a result, they were the last to leave the class. As they walked together into the corridor, a figure stepped from the shadows. Lily screamed, and a flash came to Anita's mind of Lily lying prone in the hospital wing. She drew her wand.

"Cool it, Anita!"

"Raven!" Anita put her hand to her chest and glared at her brother. "Don't ever do that to me again."

"Well how was I to know you'd jump out of your skins?" His voice was sharp.

That's rather unfair. He's the one who jumped out of the shadows at usInstead of voicing her annoyance, Anita said, "What do you want, anyway? We were on our way to the library."

"May I join you?"

"Um – we were going to …" Lily's voice trailed off. "To …"

"You know, have a bit of a gossip."

"In. The library." Raven's deadpan voice said clearly that he didn't believe it. "You two aren't the gossiping types."

"Well, you'd think that," Anita said, "Because ..." Her voice trailed off as she thought frantically.

"... Because we gossip in the library," Lily supplied.

"I reckon you're going to go talk about this Slytherin's Heir thing."

"Shh!" Anita hissed, looking around. There were far too many shadows for mention of the prophecy. "All right. I don't know what you want, but I know you won't leave us alone."

"I knew you'd see things my way."

They were silent until they had reached the library and settled at a desk in one of the back corners where the girls could watch the other students in the library. Anita examined the faces of the scattering of people seated at the desks. All of them seemed to have their attentions focused solely on the books in front of them or their own personal conversations.

"What's going on, Anita? Lily?" Raven's voice jolted her from her cautious survey.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked.

"I mean this thing you've been working on. Slytherin's Heir and the Founders' Four."

"Why this sudden interest? You've known about it for ages. You didn't care until now." Anita regretted the words the instant they were said. Raven had had no reason to care, because she hadn't told him about their part in the prophecy. She had been too busy denying it to herself. "Sorry. You didn't deserve that."

"Because it's about us, isn't it." Raven's voice was a monotone. "Us and James Potter and bloody Sirius Black, too."

"What?" Lily choked.

Anita sat, stunned. She saw her own shock on Lily's face and was sure it was on hers as well.

"Isn't it?" His voice was harsh.

"How … how do you know?" Anita stammered.

"Remember when we were in Potions the day after the Quidditch match? When we used silver basins? When I filled mine with water, I saw it. I saw you and me, and Potter and Black. And behind us stood Rowena Ravenclaw and Godric Gryffindor."

"But how did you …" Lily's voice faded as though she was unsure of precisely what to ask.

"I don't know. I never know how I divine anything."

"What else?" Anita asked.

"Did you tell her about the dreams?" Raven asked. Lily nodded. He turned to Anita. "Nothing since then. Now." His gaze moved from his sister to Anita and back again. "Tell me what this means."

"Well, we don't quite know yet. But we're close," Lily said.

Anita stood and wordlessly walked over to the shelves and pulled out a book. She placed it on the table between Lily and Raven. A Thousand Years of Magical Education. She opened it and pushed it towards her brother, pointing at the prophecy. He took the book and read it over. Then he ran a hand through his hair and gestured meaninglessly, apparently lost for words.

"So what does it mean?" he eventually said.

"Well, a lot we can't be sure about yet," his sister replied. "Like the bits about the future, you know, friends and lovers. And we don't know who the hawk and wolf are. But as far as we can tell, it prophesies that … well, it sound stupid to say it, but that Slytherin's Heir can only be defeated by a concerted effort made by the Four, and only if they remain loyal to the cause and stick together. The dog is Sirius, because –"

"- I gather you figured that out from that wonderful Astronomy lesson?"

"Yes. And James is the child. It's a bit complicated, but there's a character in Shakespeare who is told to fly and King James, the first king of England and Scotland, was supposedly descended from him."

Raven nodded. "All right. Go on."

Anita took a deep breath. "And us … well, Lily thinks I'm the one with the façade."

"Right. You look sweet and innocent."

Anita chose not to rise to the bait offered by his sardonic tone. She nodded. "Apparently. And … well, the rook in chess is called as castle, and a rook is also a bird that's like a raven."

Anita could see that her brother was processing the information. She didn't dare say anything else. He was going to be furious she hadn't told him before now.

"I'm impressed. I couldn't have figured all that out."

"You're not mad we didn't tell you?" Anita asked, surprised.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that. But it takes a lot of getting used to, dealing with Destiny. I can understand you perhaps being a bit in denial."

Anita flushed. "Did I say that?" she snapped. "No, I didn't."

"Shut it. I know you well enough to know that something like this would take you a while to get used to."

"You seem used to it," Lily said.

"Not really. It'll hit me later. Have you told Black and Potter?"

The girls shook their heads.

"No," Lily replied. "We want to see if we can get the hawk and wolf stuff, then we're going to take what we know to Bastion. I say we give it until Friday morning."

"Sounds good," Anita replied. She turned to her brother. "He's working on the prophecy too. He'll know what to do," she added.

Raven shook his head and gave a small shrug. "Well, he's bound to have more idea than me." He stood up. "I'd better go. I promised Paddy I'd look over his Charms homework. Thank you for telling me what we're up against."

"Aren't you scared?" Lily asked as he turned to leave.

"Of course I am. But there's no use worrying until we hear what Bastion says, is there?"

With that, he pushed the book back across the table to Anita. He stood, a slight frown creasing his brow, reached to the floor, slung the strap of his bag over his shoulder, and left.

Quidditch practice grew more intense and frequent as the holidays approached. The final was to be on the first weekend of the new term, and Rohan Dua called his team to practice on every possible morning, and when Lucius Malfoy had booked the pitch they practiced in the evenings. On the last day of term, the Gryffindors had a reprieve, but Sirius and James still woke early.

Sirius yawned, rubbing his eyes as they descended the final set of stairs. "I hate this. Rohan's got us up so often in the mornings I can't sleep in until a normal time."

"Hey, don't whinge, me too."

"It'll be nice to be able sleep in a bit in the holidays and have our practices later in the day." Sirius yawned again as the entered the Great Hall. The ceiling showed the promise of a clear day, but there were clouds floating near the walls.

"You know, we're really lucky no-one on the team's going home for the holidays," James said, pulling out a chair and sitting down at the Gryffindor table. He nodded to Lily and reached for the bacon platter. "Maybe it'll give us an edge against Slytherin if some of them are going home."

"We don't know if they are," Sirius replied, biting into a piece of toast. He chewed slowly a few times, frowning. "You know, they're practicing now. Let's go take a look."

"Sure, why not?"

Abandoning their breakfasts, they left the Great Hall and headed for the Quidditch pitch. "Rotten luck Felix deciding he doesn't want to play," James commented. "I can understand it, though."

"Yeah, but you can't be too scared of the Slytherins. They can't keep hexing the opposition forever or they'll get caught. It's just common sense."

"Yeah," James said, looking slyly at his friend. "You know a lot about common sense, don't you?"

Sirius turned with an offended expression. "Me? Who are you to talk?"

James mock-punched him. "Either way, it means you and Raven have to play together. Are you going to behave yourselves?"

"Of course we bloody are! Think I'm going to let us lose another match to Slytherin just because I hate Raven's guts?"

"Good boy. Rohan will be impressed."

The two boys hung back from the edges of the pitch, knowing that the Slytherins would not take kindly to spying on their practice. The players, dressed in their green robes and each holding a broomstick, stood in a circle. Lucius Malfoy stood in the centre, apparently giving instructions for the practice. When the players mounted their broomsticks and ascended and the other spectators were all focused on watching the players, Sirius and James approached the pitch.

"We'll hide under the stands," Sirius suggested. The players would be too engrossed in their flying to notice Sirius and James. There were several Slytherins watching, and Jorman Bond was leaning on railing on the near edge of the stands, talking to a group of girls who sat on the other side of the barrier. The box the Quidditch balls were kept in was at his feet. Sirius moaned, and James realised that the girl he and Sirius had seen outside the Charms classroom was one of them.

"Who is she, anyway?"

Sirius scowled. "She's my cousin, my dad's sister's kid. Aunt Rigel's never got over Andromeda being put in Slytherin."

"Looks like Andromeda enjoys it, anyway."

"Yeah, well. No accounting for taste." They slowed as they approached the stands, but the spectators all seemed too engrossed either in the practice or their conversations to worry about the Gryffindors. At one point, Andromeda looked up, and Sirius thought she must have seen them, but she gave no indication of having done so. The boys skirted the back edge of the stands and sneaked under them. The area under the stands was dark and criss-crossed with supports. Beetles scuttled away from where the boys walked, and Sirius pulled a disgusted face. "Yuk."

James nodded, but soon enough they had reached the front of the stands. They examined the ground, then squatted to watch the Slytherins fly. They said nothing as they watched, instead thinking about their prospects for the match ahead. They shifted positions frequently, finding that squatting soon made the backs of their knees sore. When the Slytherin players landed and headed for the dressing rooms, James and Sirius were glad to be able to creep back out from under the stands. As they emerged into the sunlight, they brushed cobwebs off their robes and stood, blinking, for a few seconds while their eyes adjusted to the sunlight.

Most of the Slytherins who had been in the stands were gone, but as the boys sneaked out from behind the stands, they saw Bond wrestling a Bludger back into the Quidditch ball box, the girls he had been speaking to earlier standing nearby. Andromeda's eyes narrowed, and she leaned forward to speak to Bond. He looked up at her and released the Bludger. The girls scattered and Sirius and James weren't quite sure what was happening until he had turned, snatching a club from the box and hitting the Bludger straight at Sirius.

Lily looked up from her breakfast when Remus and Peter sat down opposite her and Arabella.

"Good morning," she said, smiling. The boys returned her greeting as Peter piled his plate with food. Remus took some toast and buttered it.

"Have you seen James and Sirius?" Peter asked. Lily and Arabella shook their heads.

"Why?" Arabella asked.

"They must have got up early, and we haven't seen them," Remus replied. "We were wondering what they're up to."

Across the hall, the Slytherin Quidditch team began to enter the Great Hall, talking and appearing to congratulate each other with smiles and occasional unpleasant laughter. Not long after they had taken their seats, James appeared briefly in the doorway, gesturing wildly with both hands. Lily, Arabella, Remus and Peter leapt form their seats and hurried to the door as the first of the post owls burst through it. Sirius stood just outside the doorway, holding his shoulder, his face screwed up in pain. The owls fluttered over their heads as Peter, Remus, Lily, and Sarah reached the two boys.

"Guys, I have to take Sirius to the hospital wing. Can you do something for me?"

They all responded quickly and in the affirmative.

"What d'you want us to do, James?" Peter asked.

"Find McGonagall and tell her that Bond just attacked Sirius."

"What'd he do?" Arabella asked.

"Hit a Bludger straight at me," Sirius said through teeth clenched in pain.

"You four go with him. We'll tell McGonagall," Lily said.

"Thanks," James replied, taking Sirius's free arm. Lily and Arabella watched the four of them hurry off. The girls shook their heads in disgust and watched the boys until they reached the top of the first of the many staircases between the Entrance Hall and the hospital wing.

"I guess we'd better find McGonagall," Lily said eventually.

"Yeah." As they returned to the Great Hall, they nearly collided with Lucius Malfoy who was hurrying in the opposite direction. His fists were clenched, his face bearing an odd expression, nearly blank yet holding undercurrents of what looked like shock and grief. His cronies Crabbe, Goyle, and Bond burst from the hall soon after he had left.

Lily and Arabella looked after the Slytherins in astonishment.

"What was all that about?" The girls turned. Anita had emerged from the Great Hall, a copy of the Daily Prophet clutched in her hand.

"I don't know," Lily said, shaking her head and gesturing after the Slytherins.

"I meant James. Who cares about the Slytherins?"

"We have to go see McGonagall," Lily said. She turned towards the Great Hall, gesturing to her companions.

"Why?"

"Bond hit Sirius with a Bludger," Arabella said, opening the door for her friends. "James was taking him to the hospital wing. It looked nasty." The ceiling of the Great Hall was beginning to cloud over as the girls strode back into the hall. McGonagall was sitting at the Head Table, deep in discussion with Flitwick. Lily and Arabella headed straight towards the teachers.

Anita put her hand on Lily's arm. "Lily."

"What?" Lily turned to her.

"Bastion's not there." Anita's voice was flat. Lily stopped walking and gaped.

"Maybe he's gone to class. What's the problem?" Arabella asked.

"Oh, we just needed to talk to him about our essays," Anita lied.

"Let's go talk to McGonagall then."

Lily and Anita exchanged a glance, then nodded. As they approached the staff table, McGonagall looked up.

"Professor, can we have a word?" She raised her eyebrows, then apologised to Flitwick, stood, and in a sweep of green robes moved to the side of the table the girls were standing on.

"What is this about?"

"We were just talking to James Potter," Lily said. She explained what James had recounted to them.

McGonagall sighed. "All right. Thank you. Will that be all?"

Lily began to nod, but Anita interrupted: "Is Professor Bastion here?"

"No, I'm afraid he's not. He will be away until the start of next term on urgent business," McGonagall said, looking at her through the top of her glasses. "Can I help you?"

"Oh, no, I just wanted to ask him about an essay. Thank you." Lily could see the disappointment on Anita's face.

"It's only for a little while," she said in a low voice as they turned from the staff table. "We're both going home for the holidays, anyway."

"I suppose it will wait until then."

"It'll have to, Anita."

Sirius and James found they didn't have as much time to sleep in during the holidays as they had planned. Rohan allowed Quidditch practices to take place in the afternoons, a relaxing of regimented schedule possibly resulting from the sudden decision of Lucius Malfoy to go home for the holidays. However, the boys had been given far too much holiday work to be able to fully relax. The least relaxed of the Marauders was Remus, whom the others often found would be awake far before them most days and when they arose they usually found him in the common room with textbooks, quills, and parchment.

"I don't understand how you can do that, Remus," James said one evening upon finding him at work after a day which had started with him engrossed in his books.

"Do what?"

"Just sit there and work." James reached for a copy of the Daily Prophet which someone had left on the table next to his chair. A few moments later he sat up and let out a brief exclamation.

"What?" Remus said, startled from his books.

"Listen to this!" James said. "Mr. Brutus Malfoy, 50, a well-known member of the wizarding community, died at his Wiltshire manor on Friday, the philanthropist's family has revealed. "We held back from this announcement for the sake of privacy to allow his family some time to adjust to the news", Mr. Malfoy's lawyer said. Ministry sources say that Mr. Malfoy's death is being investigated by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, but Aurors remain tight-lipped as to precisely what they are investigating. 'It is likely that Mr. Malfoy's death was the result of a tragic Potions accident, but all avenues must be investigated,' Inspector Tullius Lightfoot told the Daily Prophet's reporter. When further questioned, Inspector Lightfoot refused to say more."

"I wonder why the investigation," Remus said in a soft voice.

"Who knows?" Sirius replied. "Bet they think he was fiddling with the Dark Arts. Now we know why dear Lucius has vanished, anyway."

There was silence for some time, then Sirius leaned as far as he could towards James, trying to read the paper over his shoulder. There was a story about an internal Ministry investigation, and something about a trial for Muggle-baiting. James flicked to the sports section, and was engrossed in an account of the latest Puddlemere match when the portrait hole swung open and McGonagall entered. She carried a stack of parchment and called for the second and fifth years to go to see her. James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter did so, and were given two pieces of parchment, one a form and one a list. She explained to the students that it was time for them to consider their subject selections, which had to be made at the start of the new term. When she had answered all questions, she bade the Gryffindors goodnight and left.

"Wish I could dump History of Magic." James's murmured comment as they returned to their seats made Sirius snicker.

"Yeah, for someone who probably lived through half of it, Binns is pretty boring, isn't he?"

They studied the lists for a while. "So we can do three, but we only have to do two?" Peter asked.

"Yeah." Remus absently brushed the end of his quill over his chin. Its tip hovered over the list.

"I think … Divination and Care of Magical Creatures," Sirius said.

"Sounds good," James replied. "Peter?"

Peter shrugged. "I don't like the look of Arithmancy or Runes. I could do Muggle Studies."

They paused. "I think I would like to do Divination, at least," James declared. "It'd be interesting."

"Remus?" Peter asked. "What do you think?"

Remus chewed his lip. "I'd like to do Care of Magical Creatures, because I like them. And Ancient Runes. I've always wanted to read runes."

"Not Divination?" Sirius frowned.

"Well … let's just say," Remus said with a slight smile, "that there are some things I'd prefer not to see in my crystal ball."

"Oh. Right. Maybe I won't do Divination, then."

"Just because I don't want to doesn't mean you can't do it. I don't need you to hold my hand."

Sirius smiled and touched his forehead in a mock salute. "Point taken."

Remus sighed. "I guess I'd better get back to work on this." He opened his Potions textbook and, tapping his quill on the page, began to read.

Sirius wordlessly passed a piece of parchment to James.

At least we'll be able to talk about our Secret Project in Divination, then. It's not all bad.
James smiled and nodded. He passed the note to Peter and turned back to Sirius.

Sirius threw a deck of Exploding Snap cards to Peter.

"Deal a round. James, want to play?"

"What?"

"Want to play Snap?"

"Sure."

Sirius grinned. "Ready to be beaten?"

"Shut up, you. Peter, deal me in."

"There are already so many secret rooms. Why is another necessary?" the wizard asked, standing in the doorway of a room of a similar size to the Hogwarts Potions classroom. He looks around the room. "And what is so special about this room?"

The bronze-haired witch looked up from where she was kneeling by an ornate fireplace. "There are some hidden areas of this room which we can enchant to open only for them."

"As we are doing with the room as a whole."

"Yes."

"How will they know what to do?"

"If you tap this stone with your wand," she said, "it slides out to reveal a hidden compartment." She did so. Then she replaced the stone and stood up, moving to the other side of the room. "And here there is another."

"That does not answer my question."

"He will see, so Helga says, if I show you."

"Wonderful Helga."

She smiled. "Yes. Wonderful Helga."

"And now we conceal everything we create for them in this room?"

"Yes. And it will be kept safe throughout the ages until they come."

"Wonderful you."

She smiled. "Wonderful us."