"How can we trust him though?" Esme argued as she paced back and forth in the kitchen. A couple of hours had passed since Snape had left the house, and the two of them were still trying to figure out what to do next.

"Why would he lie? It makes no sense." Regulus pointed out, "He didn't know who the prophecy was about and... You saw his face when I let slip that Lily Potter is pregnant."

"Lily Potter is pregnant?" They both turned to where Piper, Dirk, and Levi were sitting at the kitchen table. They had all urgently come around to hear of the latest developments and help Esme and Regulus figure out what to do.

"I had no idea." Piper admitted.

Esme asked, "Why would you? You haven't seen the girl in over a year."

"Snape must be telling the truth." Regulus carried on regardless, "He has nothing to gain by lying."

Levi suggested, "But what if he's only telling you about the prophecy in order to look good in the hopes that it'll get him some proper protection from the Death Eaters. Then he might not have to be a spy anymore."

"I don't know." Esme folded her arms and halted her pacing, "Snape seems to want to actually take down the Death Eaters as much as we do."

"It doesn't matter anyway." Regulus combatted, "Whatever his motive for telling us, it's irrelevant. The fact is he did tell us and we need to have a plan."

"Even if we're believing Snape, that doesn't mean what he heard is reliable." Esme shrugged her shoulders.

Piper interrupted, "Well you'd need to find out who told the prophecy. You need to find the woman Dumbledore met."

"Or ask Dumbledore himself." Dirk added.

Then, Dirk said something more than a little interesting.

"Oh..." A lightbulb flicked on in his mind and all attention turned to him, "Snape is... He is telling the truth. There is a prophecy."

"What?" Levi scoffed, "How would you know?"

Dirk turned to him, "Because there is a prophecy-well, prophecy record. I heard someone talking about it in the Ministry a couple of days ago. I was... Kind of eavesdropping. But... There is a prophecy about You Know Who."

"So he is telling the truth. We have no reason not to believe him." Regulus sighed with triumph and being proved right.

Esme still wasn't completely certain. "But Snape admitted, and Dirk said the same, that they didn't necessarily hear everything. There could be more to the prophecy that changes our whole understanding."

"That would just about be our luck, wouldn't it?" Piper mumbled as she tied her long hair back into a ponytail.

"So what do we do now?" Dirk asked.

"Well, there's only one thing we can do." Esme confirmed, "We need to take Snape to see Dumbledore."

So that's what they did.

"Are you sure you want us to come in? I mean... I, for one, could just wait here." Dirk offered, rubbing the back of his neck as the group stood outside the door to Dumbledore's office several hours later.

Levi placed a hand on his shoulder, "What are you so nervous for?"

"Oh he's always been intimidated by Dumbledore." Esme explained simply.

Snape was standing a little removed from the group and had been eyeing them all with an air of suspicion when he reminded them, "Are we going to go in? You do remember why we're here, don't you?"

"Alright," Regulus held his hand to the door handle and slowly twisted it, "Let's go in already."

As the group stepped over the threshold and into the Headmaster's office, all of them were caught off guard to see Dumbledore patiently sat behind his desk and waiting intently for them to arrive.

"Esmerelda..." Dumbledore greeted as he slowly rose from his seat, "Regulus... And others."

"Do you think that means he wants us to leave?" Dirk hissed into Piper's ear.

She shook her head and whispered back, "I think it means we brought a small party into his office."

"I received your urgent letter." The Professor explained, "And it appears you've made your own revelations."

Esme almost laughed, "Yeah, that's one way of putting it. For sure."

"We-" Regulus quickly spoke up, hoping to keep the conversation on tracks but he hadn't planned any further in his sentence so had to briefly pause, "We... We're concerned about the Potters - because of this prophecy. Sirius is away for the week so we don't know how to find Lily and James. And if talks about the one with the power to-"

"Mr Black, let me pause you there, please." Dumbledore tilted his head down to peer at the teenagers over the top of his half-moon spectacles.

Esme muttered under her breath, "I knew it."

"Severus, I know what you heard and... I'm aware that You Know Who has heard fragments of what was prophesied. What may have occurred to some of you is that you didn't hear the whole prophecy." He explained.

"Merlin, I really hit the nail on the head." Esme whispered under her breath.

Dumbledore glanced over at her before continuing, "What I'm going to tell you cannot leave this room. This is not even to be discussed with other members of the Order. The prophecy... It reads: 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..."

An uncomfortable silence had fallen over the room as the words settled in on everybody.

Slowly, they worked their way through every line of the prophecy - trying to understand what it could mean.

Dirk spoke first, "Mark him as his equal?"

"Yes, Mr Cresswell." Dumbledore solemnly nodded his head.

"What does that mean?" Levi asked.

"It means, I think, that..." Dirk gulped, "You Know Who has the power to decide which child will be the one with the power to... Vanquish him."

"Boy." Piper stated.

"What?"

"The child - he's a boy." She shrugged, "The prophecy says 'the Dark Lord will make him as his equal'."

"Miss Horix is right. There may be more than one boy born at the end of July that meets the requirements. If that is the case, then the Dark Lord will choose which boy is the one." Dumbledore moved around to sit back behind his desk, "What may be the case, however, is that the Dark Lord does not know this fact. Judging from what Severus has told us, You Know Who isn't yet aware that his actions could determine exactly who this boy is."

And later that day, as they all left the Headmaster's office, wandered through the empty corridors of Hogwarts, and returned to their homes, all of them felt a heavy weight on their shoulders.

A dark cloud hanging over their heads.

Because no matter what they did, no matter how hard they fought, the end of the wizarding war was completely out of their hands.

The end of the war, achieving peace, it wasn't in the hands of the heroes.

All of the power lay at the Dark Lord's feet.

"What are you doing now?" Regulus asked as he closed the door behind him and Esme upon arriving back at their temporary house.

"I'm just... I'm going upstairs." She stated quietly.

Regulus was busy straightening out the doormat and hadn't heard her reply when he asked aloud, "I'm surprised Dumbledore still wants Severus to act as this sort of... Spy for him. I mean, fighting the war is one thing but I don't think that's worth risking people's lives over. Dumbledore could-he could protect Severus but he's making him risk his life... Am I wrong for being disappointed?"

"Do you know think a few select people risking their lives is tolerable if it helps keep the greater population safe?" Esme suggested, "Perhaps that's the reason for it."

"Maybe." Regulus hummed as he dusted off his jacket and then took it off and hanged it over the bannister.

She sighed softly, "We'll still look out for him though. Even though I still don't like the boy, we'll check in on Snape."

"Yes, I think that's a good idea." Regulus nodded approvingly and then turned over to Esme to see she was hovering on the third step of the staircase. "Are you going to bed already?"

She sighed and nodded.

"Okay." He smiled, "I'll go make some tea and come up... If you want me to?"

"Alright, yeah..." Esme answered, "Great."

And whilst Regulus was boiling the kettle and pouring himself a cup of tea, Esme had hurried upstairs and finally unwrapped the small piece of paper she'd been holding tightly in her hand.

The parchment, heavily crinkled, was only small and had been torn off a much larger piece originally. But before hiding it underneath the mattress, Esme read over and over what was scrawled on it in dark ink.

A message Dumbledore had discretely passed to her as they left his office earlier that day. It was something that, for now, she didn't understand. All Esme knew was that it was meant for her - to figure out and one day use to save her life.

-

a/n

okay before anyone says anything, i know that it the books trelawney is at the interview for divination professor with dumbledore in the hogs head when she speaks the first prophecy

i have changed it slightly so in this timeline she prophesied it slightly earlier in order for the prophecy record to already be in the ministry for dirk to have seen

that's all,

thanks