Disclaimer I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to J K Rowling.

Pete's Request - What if Harry had given the real prophecy to Harry in front of the Order.

This one is dedicated to you Pete! I hope you like it. Enjoy!

The Prophecy – Deepest Reflections – AU – Chapter 43

Harry walked into the kitchen and saw his mum standing at the stove, mixing something in a very large pot. She looked over at him as soon as he walked through the door.

"At last!" Lily smiled, "I thought I was going to have to drag you back inside."

"It wouldn't be the first time." Harry groused. He still remembered his first attempt to escape the Headquarters of the Order and how his dad had caught him at the last moment and dragged him back inside and up to his room.

Lily's smile faltered but she didn't let it fall completely from her face. She stepped away from the stove and walked over to Harry.

"I know how you feel about the Headquarters," she started, "but it's only for tonight. Can you tolerate it for just one night, please?" her eyes darted to the door which led to the living room. "I want tonight to go smoothly. I know it means a lot to Harry. He's going to remember it for a very long time so please, for him, just put up with the Headquarters."

Harry nodded his head, he could put up with it. His mum was right, it was only one night. He could do it.

Lily reached up and felt Harry's forehead, careful not to disturb the dressing. He was still burning up. With concerned eyes she studied her son.

"Feeling any better?" she asked hopefully.

Harry just smiled at her and dropped his head.

"It's not going to go in that direction mum. I have to get a whole lot worse before I get better."

Lily pursed her lips, clearly unhappy.

"I want you upstairs, in your bed, resting." She ordered.

"I can't sleep." Harry explained. Then seeing the look on her face, he quickly added. "I'm not tired."

Lily gave him a final look over and turned back to the stove.

"I'm not saying it again; go to your bed and rest. Even if you're not tired, you need to rest in order to heal."

Knowing how futile his argument would be with his mum, Harry wordlessly turned to leave. Just as he opened the kitchen door he saw Mrs Weasley rushing back into the kitchen through the entrance from the living room.

"I'm sorry I left you alone, Lily!" she apologised as soon as she bustled inside. "I had to explain what was going on to Ginny." She saw Harry lingering in the doorway and smiled brightly at him. "Oh, hello, Harry dear! Are you feeling better?"

Harry nodded yes before Lily could say anything.

"Is Ginny alright? I heard what happened at Hogwarts with Hagrid." Lily said to Molly.

Harry's interest peaked and he turned to Mrs Weasley.

"I don't know what Hagrid was thinking!" she muttered as she started preparing the pot roast. "Ginny could have been really hurt!" she said crossly.

Lily nodded her head in agreement but noticed Harry still at the door. She raised her eyebrows at him making him sigh with resignation.

"Upstairs, bed, rest, I get it." He repeated.

Before he turned to walk out of the kitchen he saw the satisfied smile on his mum's face.

xxx

Harry didn't go upstairs to his room like Lily wanted. Instead he turned to the room next to the kitchen. He was tired and truth be told, the thought of going to bed and resting was appealing but the mention of Ginny and what happened to her had him too curious to be able to rest. He opened the door to the small living room to find Ron, Hermione, both Ginny's and his counterpart in front of the dying fire.

Harry was about to walk inside but paused at the threshold when he saw the other occupants inside.

There was a group of adults sitting at the other end of the room, huddled around the table talking in low tones. He spotted his dad amongst the Order members, talking to Kingsley. Moody's magical eye was already swirling around in its socket, seeking him out and focusing on him.

Harry's instinctual reaction was to take a step back, to walk out of this room. He didn't want to be around Order members. Just as Harry shifted, Hermione called out to him.

"Harry?"

Harry paused, his eyes snapping from Moody's scarred face to Hermione's confused one. He walked into the room, closing the door. The Order could go to hell, why should he be the one to walk away?

Harry ignored the adults, even though most of them had by now noticed his presence and were turning around in their seats to get a better look at him. He felt his dad's eyes on him too but he refused to meet them either. He ignored all of them and walked over to the four teens. Only when he got nearer did he note the shocked expression on the younger Ginny's face.

"Are all the explanations over?" he asked, directing his question to his younger self.

Fifteen year old Harry nodded, smiling impishly at Ginny.

"Yep, Ginny's all caught up now."

Ginny turned to look at him, annoyed.

"I still can't believe this." She muttered quietly. She turned back to her brother Ron and glared angrily at him. "So much was going on, Harry had swapped dimensions with his alternate self and no one told me!"

"Why did you have to know?" Ron asked.

He was swatted on the arm in response.

"I'm Harry's friend too!" Ginny fumed. "You should have told me!"

"All right, you don't have to get violent!" Ron rubbed at his arm. "Besides, Harry asked us not to say anything to anyone."

The older Harry sat down, across from his counterpart, painfully aware of the eyes and ears on him. He knew, without looking, that Moody was keeping his magical eye on him.

"Everyone will find out now," the older Ginny said suddenly, looking at the older Harry. "Once what happened at the Ministry with Voldemort is reported, everyone will think you're not the real Harry Potter."

The rest looked confusedly between seventeen year old Ginny and her boyfriend.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked.

"The media will report whatever statement the Ministry give," Ginny explained, "and that will be the story Dumbledore gave; that the Harry that has been attending Hogwarts this year was not the real Harry Potter. He was a ploy of Dumbledore's to catch out Voldemort. The real Harry Potter was taken into safety this entire time."

Fifteen year old Harry turned to look at his counterpart with surprise.

"So everyone will think you were a fake?" he asked. "Especially the people at Hogwarts?"

The older Harry nodded.

"I guess so." He replied.

"Doesn't that bother you?" the younger Harry asked.

His older counterpart shrugged.

"Not particularly." He studied his younger self for a few moments. "I've never cared for what others think of me. You can't win with this world so why bother trying?"

He had said that last part a little loud, catching most of the Order members eavesdropping attention. Most shifted uncomfortably in their seats.

The younger Harry didn't reply but felt his insides twist with anger. He didn't want anyone thinking of his counterpart as a fake. It didn't feel right.

"Talking about what happened at the Ministry," fourteen year old Ginny started. "Nice work!" she grinned at the eighteen year old boy. "What you did, the way you tricked everyone, even V...Voldemort!" Ginny managed the name with little hesitation. "I've got to say, I'm impressed!"

The eighteen year old just dropped his gaze to the ground, not saying anything in response.

"Yeah, but I'm annoyed at you for one thing." Harry said, making his older self look up at him with curiosity. "I know why you did it but, I wish you hadn't smashed the Prophecy. I wanted to see what it was." Harry admitted.

A gruff sounding snort interrupted them, making all five teens look over to the table. Moody had dropped all pretence, both mismatched eyes on the eighteen year old Harry.

"He's got a point!" he said, nodding his head at the younger Harry. "You could have done without destroying the actual prophecy!" he shook his head in disappointment. "If you hadn't been showing off and planned things better, you would've had the prophecy and defeated Voldemort!"

James and the rest had stopped mid way through their discussions, staring at either Moody or Harry. Surprisingly, it was the seventeen year old Ginny that responded.

"Excuse me? No one asked for your opinion! We're having a private conversation. It's rude to eavesdrop!"

Moody just gave her one of his, I-couldn't-care-less, looks and mumbled something in his gruff tone. Arthur looked around at Ginny, opening his mouth to say something but then quickly shut it again. He couldn't really tell this Ginny off for speaking with such rudeness. She was from another dimension, his Ginny was sitting right there, next to the older Ginny. He smiled brightly at his fourteen year old daughter.

The older Harry's eyes stayed on Moody for a moment. His gaze shifted from the scarred Auror to the fourteen year old Ginny sitting across from him. Harry extended his hand forward, holding it out, as if to receive something.

"Can I have it back now?" he asked simply.

To everyone's bewilderment, Ginny nodded and moved her hands to the back of her neck, fiddling with something. She finally managed to undo the clasp and she pulled a chain away from her neck. The long golden chain had a teardrop shaped crystal pendant hanging from it. Wordlessly, Ginny dropped the necklace into Harry's waiting hand.

Even after being berated by the seventeen year old girl for eavesdropping, everyone at the table stared at Harry. The four teens leaned closer to Harry, curiosity making them inch nearer to see what was happening. The eighteen year old closed his fist around the pendant. He opened his hand slowly to show a glass sphere rapidly growing in size until it sat fully in his hand.

The fifteen year old Harry stared in amazement at the glass orb with white mist swirling inside. He looked back up at his counterpart, not daring to believe what he had done.

"Is...is that...?" Hermione started.

"The Prophecy!" Ron breathed, realising what it must be.

The sound of chairs scrapping the floor echoed around the room and soon enough, the members of the Order had rushed over to Harry, gathered around the teens, staring in complete disbelief at the orb sitting in Harry's hand.

"Bloody hell!" Sirius whispered.

Moody didn't say anything but both his eyes travelled from the crystal orb to the boy holding it. Harry met his gaze and smirked.

"I guess I planned it well enough, huh?"

Moody reached for the orb at once. His gnarled fingers only managed to grasp at empty air as Harry pulled the orb out of reach.

"Hand it over, boy! This belongs to the Ministry!" He growled at Harry.

Green eyes narrowed at Moody.

"I told you before, It's Harry, not boy!" Harry growled right back at him. "And this never belonged to the Ministry. It belongs to those who it's about."

Every eye turned to the fifteen year old Harry, who looked just as shocked as the rest at the sight of the glass orb. The older Harry held out the orb, offering it to him.

"It's yours. I was only keeping it safe for you."

The bespectacled boy reached over and took the prophecy, holding the delicate glass orb in his hand. He couldn't help but stare at it.

Moody didn't try to take it from him but continued to growl with annoyance.

"Wait, I don't get it." Ron said suddenly. "If Ginny had the Prophecy all along, then what were you both fighting over at the Ministry?" he asked both Harrys.

Everyone looked at the eighteen year old for an answer, including the younger Harry.

"It was a button." Harry replied. "A button transfigured into a glass orb."

"You anticipated You-Know-Who would come for the Prophecy?" Tonks asked with awe. "How did you figure that out?"

The eighteen year old twisted around to glance at her, noticing his dad standing next to her. He racked his mind, trying to figure out a plausible answer, as telling the truth would probably get him killed by the surrounding Order members. Moody was already staring at him with a thirst to kill. He didn't need to add to it by telling them he had an agreement with Voldemort. More than that, he couldn't tell them with his dad standing right there.

"Let's just say I know Voldemort." he replied, ignoring the sharp reaction to the Dark Lord's name. "I knew what he would want and in this dimension, he didn't get to hear the prophecy in full." He glanced back at Tonks. "Sirius told me the first night I came here that Voldemort was after a weapon. I figured it must be the Prophecy."

Tonks nodded her head, clearly impressed by the eighteen year old. James was staring at Harry as well, but he didn't look that much impressed by him. If anything, he looked disappointed.

"That's some guessing you did!" said Moody. "A little too accurate for my liking!"

Harry turned in his seat to face Moody properly.

"That's just the way I work. I don't allow mistakes."

Moody glared at him. He leaned towards him, his scarred face pushed closer to Harry's.

"From what I heard, you've made plenty mistakes, some pretty big ones too!" he said quietly. "There were plenty of rumours circulating around here about you." he told Harry. "One was about how you took the time to go and meet Voldemort on a few occasions, made a little agreement with him. Maybe the Prophecy was mentioned on one of those visits."

Hermione and both Ginny's gasped loudly, staring murderously at Moody for making such a claim. The rest of the room's occupants waited for Harry to deny the accusation.

Harry smirked back at Moody.

"Listening to rumours, Auror Alasator Moody?" he teased. "The hint is in the name itself. They are rumours, not the truth."

Moody pulled away from Harry, straightening up.

"You're lucky no one got a chance to prove those rumours." he told Harry.

"And you're lucky I decided to do your job for you and got the Prophecy out of Voldemort's grasp." Harry answered.

Moody didn't have a response to that and settled to just growl at him, mumbling something under his breath.

"So you swapped the Prophecy and gave the real one to Ginny?" Ron asked, still baffled that all this had happened and he didn't know about it.

Hermione suddenly turned to face the fourteen year old Ginny, eyes wide and accusing.

"You had the Prophecy all along?" she asked. "You said the necklace was a present from Michael!"

"No I didn't." Ginny calmly answered. "You asked if it was a present from Michael and I replied 'maybe'. I didn't say it was from him, you just assumed it was."

The older Ginny chuckled at her counterpart. That was so like her.

"But why Ginny?" Ron asked. "Why did you give her the Prophecy and not one of us?" he gestured to himself and Hermione.

"I asked him the same thing." The fourteen year old said. She gazed at Harry, locking eyes with him. "When he gave me the necklace, he told me it was a powerful weapon transfigured into a pendant, given to him by Professor Dumbledore, to keep away from Voldemort." she told the others. She smiled at the memory. "You said that you wanted me to keep it safe for you, that you trusted me with it. You were afraid to give it to Ron or Hermione since they were the first ones Voldemort would target if he suspected you had the weapon." A look of sadness crept into her eyes. "You didn't mean any of that did you? You just wanted me to hide the Prophecy without even knowing what it was."

"I meant every word of what I said." Harry replied. "I do trust you, and I gave you the Prophecy because I knew you would protect it with your life."

Ginny blushed and dropped her eyes to the floor. This was embarrassing enough, she didn't need her dad here, staring at her as well.

Harry turned his attention back to the younger Harry.

"Do what you want with it." he said, gesturing to the orb. "Listen to it, smash it, do whatever. Just don't let anyone else tell you what to do."

Fifteen year old Harry looked up at his older counterpart at the last part of his words. He knew Harry meant Dumbledore. He nodded his head, gesturing that he understood. He glanced back at the prophecy in his grip. This was the reason his parents had lost their lives. He was going to learn everything he could about the prophecy, regardless of who tried to stop him.

The door to the living room opened and Lily appeared in the doorway. Her sharp green eyes found her eighteen year old son and they narrowed at him.

"I thought I told you to go upstairs!" Lily started, angrily.

"I was just going." Harry replied, getting to his feet.

He struggled to straighten up, his legs protesting painfully to the action. Harry mentally cursed the moratus charm, why couldn't it last a little longer? He managed to stand up but found it impossible to take a step, not without falling.

Lily saw the struggle and her eyes narrowed even more. She hurried towards him but James got to him before she could.

"Come on, Harry." he whispered, helping to steady him.

Harry felt the ache in his body spread, stealing the breath from him. He gripped onto his dad's arm, trying to find the strength to stand up straight.

"Is he okay?" Tonks' question rang around him and he heard his dad's quiet, "He's fine," in response.

Harry's vision swam as a wave of dizziness hit him. He was partly glad; he didn't want to see the Order staring at him, wondering what was wrong with him.

James led Harry out of the room and up the stairs. Harry breathed in a sigh of relief when he felt the charm fight to stay in place, masking the pain in his body and giving him back the ability to support himself.

He pulled away from James, just as they approached his room.

"I'm okay." he reassured James as he walked into the room, supporting himself. "I just, got dizzy." he rubbed at his head.

"You should have listened to your mum and come up here to rest." James said, gesturing to the bed.

Harry obliged by walking over to it and sitting down.

"I know, I just, I wanted to see what happened to Ginny." Harry admitted.

James raised an eyebrow.

"What happened to Ginny?" he repeated.

"The younger one." Harry elaborated. "I heard her mum saying something happened to her. I just wanted to see if she was okay."

James nodded, watching Harry carefully. His hazel eyed scanned over Harry's face, scrutinising every inch of him.

"You lied to me."

Harry looked up at his dad, surprised with the sudden accusation. He noted his dad didn't look angry, he just looked, disappointed.

"Dad?"

James moved closer.

"When I asked you over the phone, if you had met this world's Voldemort." James started. "You told me you hadn't." James stared at Harry, watching the expression change on his face. "You were lying." he stated, not needing to ask him. He already knew it.

Harry sighed, not wanting to have this conversation like this, here, now, when he was so tired.

"Dad, I..."

"You were lying again." James continued, cutting Harry short. "Just now, downstairs. You didn't figure out Voldemort wanted the Prophecy. You knew because you went to him and he must have told you, like Moody said."

Harry looked up at his dad, holding his gaze. The minutes seemed to stretch forever before Harry found his voice.

"Yes," he admitted. "I did go to see him and when you asked me, I lied and said I hadn't." Harry shook his head, pushing himself to stand up. "But I only lied because I knew you would freak out and jump to the wrong conclusion." Harry met his dad's gaze, desperate for him to understand. "I didn't go to see him by my own free will. He tricked me. Voldemort laid out the trap and I fell for it."

"Why couldn't you just have told me that?" James asked.

"Would you have believed me?" Harry asked. "You were so afraid, so certain that I was going to go to Voldemort and do what? Join him again?" This time, James didn't have an answer. "I came to this universe by accident, dad." Harry explained. "I never planned on coming here and I sure as hell didn't plan on meeting Voldemort. It happened and I tried to make the best of the situation and in the process, I found myself making a deal with him."

"What deal?" James asked.

"The Prophecy in exchange for the golden compass, so I could come home." Harry said. "I didn't know when the compass in our world was going to correct itself and I was getting desperate. I tracked down the golden compass in this universe and found myself walking into Voldemort's trap." he explained. "Voldemort wanted to come to an arrangement, where I would bring him the prophecy and in return, he was going to give me the compass."

"Did you take the Prophecy with the intention of giving it to Voldemort?" James asked.

Harry shook his head.

"No, I changed my mind. I took the Prophecy so I could hide it. I made him think it was still there and I would get it for him in exchange for the compass. It was the only chance I had of coming back home."

James didn't say anything but felt his heart miss a beat. Whatever Harry did, he only did so he could return back to them. He walked over to Harry, standing before him.

"I can understand you were only trying to do what you thought was right." James started. "But you should have told me about meeting Voldemort, especially when I specifically asked you about him."

"I know," Harry admitted. "I'm..I'm sorry." he managed with difficulty.

"I don't want you lying to me." James started. " I don't care if you're scared I'll freak out or jump to the wrong conclusion. The next time I ask you a question, I want an honest answer, no matter how much trouble it may get you in. Never again, are you to lie to me, is that understood?"

Harry had never heard his dad speak in such a tone. He was strict but not yelling at him, disappointed, but not angry with him. Harry found himself almost smiling but stopped himself.

"Yes Sir." he answered, sincerely.

James nodded at him.

"Good," he gestured to the bed behind Harry. "Now get some rest or your mum will make both of us pay!" he smiled.

Harry smiled back and obeyed, pulling back the covers and kicking off his shoes. He climbed into bed, his body already relaxing against the soft mattress.

"Get some sleep, you're going to need it." James ruffled Harry's hair affectionately and walked to the door.

He slipped out, closing the door as quietly as he could. As soon as the door clicked, Harry sat up. He pushed the covers aside and grabbed his shoes, pulling them back on. He wanted nothing more than to curl up and fall asleep but he couldn't, not until he finished one last job.

Glancing at the door one more time, Harry stood up and prepared to disapparate. He had to go to Hogwarts and find Draco and scare the living daylights out of him. Maybe that would save the idiot's life. He knew it wouldn't take him too long, he would be back before anyone realised he was missing.

With a barely audible pop, Harry was gone.

xxx