The Power He Knows Not - Or Don't You Believe in Prophecies?
by Healer Pomfrey

All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.

- At the Ministry of Magic -

Albus Dumbledore stood in the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic, staring in shock at the small bundel, barely covered by much too large, black Hogwarts robes. The thought 'Oh no, the prophecy' came to the front of his mind.

"Harry," he addressed the naked baby, conjuring a nappy and a yellow jumpsuit with roaring red lions for the boy. "Do you remember me?"

The baby obviously knew his name, as it looked up to the old wizard, and a smile spread over his face as recognition set in. "Gwanda," he mouthed, before his lower lip began to quiver, and the small boy began to moan.

"Harry, are you in pain?" Dumbledore queried, having no clue what spells Voldemort had cast at the boy, apart from the de-aging spell.

Harry did not reply but continued to whimper, which helped making Dumbledore's mind up. "Let's take you back to Hogwarts," he cooed and hurriedly carried the child to the fireplace.

- Headmaster's office, Hogwarts -

Back in his office, Dumbledore lowered himself into the chair behind his desk, sat Harry onto his lap and called Twinkle, his house-elf, instructing him to fetch Professors McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick, Sprout and Madam Pomfrey as well as Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley immediately.

"Mistress Minerva has been injured at the Ministry tonight and is at St. Mungo's," Twinkle informed him, before he popped away to fetch the others.

Madam Pomfrey was the first to enter the Headmaster's office. "Aww what a cutie," she cooed at the baby, who gave her a toothy smile.

"Aun' Poppy," he recognised the Mediwitch.

"Yes, that's right my dear, I'm your Aunt Poppy," she replied gently, slowly pulling her wand. "What have you done this time?" she then asked the child.

"Donnow," he replied, thoughtfully, before he gave her a questioning look and asked, tentatively, "Mummy?"

"I'm so sorry sweetie, but your mother can't be here right now," Pomfrey replied in a soft voice and began to wave her wand at the child.

"He's exactly fifteen months old," she informed the professors and students, who were gathered around her, hanging on her lips.

"Just the time where his parents died," Dumbledore said, gravely. "Does he at least have the memories of his older self?"

"No," Pomfrey replied, shaking her head in denial. "He's a real baby without any further memories, and he's suffering from a bad headache and a slight temperature, probably caused by a dark spell. His magic is fairly strong for a one-year-old though."

The Headmaster looked horrified. "How is he supposed to fulfil the prophecy if he's just a baby without any memories?"

"Prophecy?" Hermione Granger queried, glaring at the Headmaster. "What prophecy?"

Dumbledore let out a long sigh, sounding tired. "Many years ago, a prophecy was made about Harry and Voldemort."

"May we please hear the content?" Hermione asked, politely.

"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 ..." the Headmaster recited, already knowing the content by heart.

"Well then it must be wrong," Hermione said, firmly. "I don't believe in prophecies anyway. Does Professor McGonagall know about it and believes that it is authentic?"

"Professor McGonagall is not aware of the complete content," Dumbledore replied. "Certainly true is in any case that we have to protect Harry. Perhaps I should just send him back to his relatives and renew the blood wards."

"No Albus," Snape spoke up in a firm voice. "You can't send the boy back there. First of all, the Dark Lord received Potter's blood last summer, so that the blood wards wouldn't have any effect at all, and secondly, I watched several of his memories about his life at the Dursleys, and he clearly suffered from abuse and neglect."

"Yes, that's true," Ron Weasley for once agreed with the Potions Master's words. "You can't send him back to that hellhole sir."

Dumbledore popped a lemon drop into his mouth, absentmindedly handing Harry into Hermione's outstretched hands. "Severus, I'm sorry, but in that case I need you to become his guardian. You'll be able to keep him safe."

"Albus, what if he calls me? He's a Master of Legilimency."

"As are you my boy," the Headmaster replied, pleasantly. "Don't worry, Severus. Everything will be all right. You'll keep him safe, and we're all going to think about how Harry will be able to gain whatever power Voldemort knows not."

"Is there any possibility that Harry will gain back his memories, for example if I took him with me to fifth year's classes?" Hermione queried, looking from the Headmaster to Madam Pomfrey.

The Healer remained thoughtful for an instant, before she replied, "I don't know. I believe that it might be possible to trigger some memories; however, it's more likely that he either gets his memories back as he grows up or that he won't be able to retrieve them at all."

"I think that it's a good idea to take him with you to your classes though, Ms. Granger," the Headmaster threw in. "Professor Snape won't be able to look after him during class time anyway and it would be too dangerous if he took him with him to the Potions classroom."

The teachers agreed that Hermione should take care of Harry between breakfast and dinner time, while other than that he was going to remain with Professor Snape.

"Of course I can always take the cutie, too," Madam Pomfrey said gently, carefully tickling the baby's small feet.

"Let's hope that it won't be necessary too often," Snape spoke up, observing in concern how Harry tried to rub his little forehead. "Does your head still hurt?" he queried, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Harry replied, miserably. He couldn't understand the world anymore. Just a little while ago, his mummy had been reading him his favourite bed time story about a little boy and his baby dragon, then a bad man with red eyes had come and cast a spell that made his mummy lie on the floor, unmoving, and then all of a sudden, he had been big, but a similar man had come and cast a spell at him that made him small again and made his head hurt badly.

"Severus, go and put him to bed," Pomfrey instructed her younger colleague. "Give him a sip of each the headache potion and a light fever reducer, mixed into warm milk. And you," she gave the students a pointed look, "will go to bed as well. It's the middle of the night already."

- Harry's room, Hogwarts -

When Harry woke up in the morning, he didn't feel well. His head hurt and he just felt unwell. Slightly whimpering, he waited for his mummy, who always came to him as soon as he had woken up. However, on this morning, his mummy did not come. Instead, the man, whom he knew as a friend of his mummy, entered the room.

"Good morning Harry," he said in a soft voice, as he approached Harry's cot.

"Uncy Sebby," Harry replied, giving the man a whiny look to make him know that he was feeling poorly.

"Does your head still hurt?" the man asked, causing Harry to nod.

"Hawts," he complained, his lower lip quivering dangerously.

"Then let's see what we can do about it," he was told. "Are you feeling well enough to get up and eat some breakfast?"

Harry did not feel overly hungry, but he gave the man a short nod and allowed himself to be picked up. He was placed on the changing table, where Severus banished his dirty nappy and took his temperature, before he dressed him in a green jump suit with small cats in different colours that were slowly moving around. Harry could not help chuckling, when one of the cats stretched her legs and then let out a loud meaow.

"I wike cats," he said, smiling down at himself.

"That's good because I am a lynx Animagus like your mummy was a cat Animagus, and I often spend time in my cat form together with some of my colleagues, who can turn into cats as well," Severus explained.

Harry had not understood everything; however, he smiled and obediently sipped the pumpkin juice, which the older wizard held out to him once he took him off the changing table.

"Fanku," Harry said, instantly feeling much better.

"Better now?" Severus queried, giving him a sharp look.

"Yes," Harry replied, happily.

"Harry, do you remember Hermione?" Severus asked carefully, as he led the boy out of the nursery into the living room of his private quarters.

"Mynee?" Harry queried, giving him an uncertain look.

Severus glanced at his wrist watch, realising that they had ten minutes left, before they had to leave for the Great Hall, and motioned Harry to sit next to him on the sofa.

"Harry, in fact you have been fifteen years old, when an evil wizard cast a spell at you that made you become a baby again. Do you remember being big?"

Harry remained thoughtful for an instant, before he explained that there had been a man with red eyes, when he was big, and then he suddenly became small.

Severus nodded at the child's explanation in understanding. "Very well, when you were big, Hermione was your best friend, and during class time, she will take you with her. All right?"

"Yeah," Harry replied, feeling very unsure at the situation. 'I must be at Hogwarts,' he thought. 'But how did I come here?'

Before he could voice his thoughts, Severus spoke again. "If you don't feel well or anything else is bothering you, tell Hermione and she will take you to me right away. Do you understand that, Harry?"

Harry nodded.

"Very well then, I'm going to carry you to the Great Hall, where we will have breakfast," Severus announced.

A small pout appeared on the small boy's face. "I wawk?" Harry asked, tentatively, not wanting to anger his mummy's friend.

Severus smirked. "This time only I'm going to carry you, because it's quite a way to walk. All right?"

"Kay," Harry replied, feeling slightly consoled.

- The Great Hall -

Severus lowered Harry into the children's seat that the house-elves had kindly prepared and took the chair next to his ward, inwardly groaning when his colleagues instantly began to make a fuss over the baby.

Harry endured the fussing by just smiling at everyone, before his lips pulled downwards as he glanced around and finally asked, "Gwanny Mina?"

"Your granny Minerva can't be here right now," Poppy replied in a soothing voice. "She'll be back in a few week's time though."

"Awwigh," Harry said in understanding, before he queried, "Mummy?"

"I'm so sorry sweetie, but your mummy can't come back," Poppy said, trying to distract the boy by feeding him a strawberry. "You're going to stay with us at Hogwarts now," she added, smiling at the boy. "You like Hogwarts, don't you?"

"Yes," Harry agreed, returning the smile. "I lub Hogwaws."

'At least the others have stopped fussing now,' Severus thought, noticing in relief that Ms. Granger was on her way to approach the Head table in order to fetch Harry.

"Harry, this is Hermione Granger," Severus introduced her to his ward. "I told you about her this morning."

"Yes, Mynee," Harry confirmed, casting the girl a toothy smile. "I go class wif?"

"Yes Harry, I'm going to take you with me to class," the girl replied, turning to the Mediwitch. "I'm sorry Madam Pomfrey, but I don't know how to change a nappy." She blushed profusely, when all the teachers except for Poppy and Severus began to chuckle.

Poppy glared at her colleagues. "Very well then, tonight you're all going to show me how well you'll be able to care for a one-year-old. Ms. Granger, there's no need to be embarrassed. Come to see me either during classes if necessary or after the last morning class, and I'll show you how to change his nappy."

"Don't worry, Ms. Granger," Flitwick threw in. "We're only laughing, because we don't have a clue either."

The girl thanked the Healer profusely, knowing that Defence was cancelled anyway so that she would have a free period before lunchtime. After receiving a bag with nappies and a playpen with a few books and toys for Harry from the Healer, she left for her first morning class.

- Classrooms -

Remembering that Uncle Severus had promised this morning would be the only time that he had to allow himself to be carried, Harry wriggled his way down from Hermione's arm.

"Hawwy wawk," he informed the girl, who smiled down at him and said, "All right sweetie, you may walk, but we must hurry a bit or we're going to be late for Charms."

Harry almost had to run, and by the time they reached the classroom, just when the professor, who was not much taller than himself, was about to close the door, he felt exhausted. He allowed Hermione to put him into his playpen and cuddled with the cat that Uncle Severus had conjured for him before he went to bed last night. It was a magical cat that changed its colour, when he pressed the left front paw, and that miaowed, when he pushed the right front paw. However, five minutes later, he was fast asleep.

At the end of the class, Hermione rose a very sleepy Harry. "Harry, I'm going to carry you now," she said in a soft voice, as she picked him up. "The next class is Transfiguration, and due to Professor McGonagall's absence the Headmaster is going to teach it, so we better not be late."

"Kay," Harry agreed, yawning.

HP

When they entered the classroom, Harry felt that it was strangely familiar, although he could not remember when he had been in the room before. Not feeling sleepy anymore, he did not allow Hermione to put him into the playpen but insisted to sit on her lap.

"All right Harry, but you must be quiet," Hermione instructed him, just when his granddad Albus began to speak.

Harry did not bother listening; however, he observed with interest how the students began to practise transfiguring a wooden toad into a live toad.

'Toads are uninteresting and yuck,' he thought, somewhere at the back of his mind having an image of a pink toad, which he greatly disliked. Concentrating on the grey toad on Hermione's desk, he wished it to be a cat.

"Ms. Granger, don't you like toads?" the Headmaster suddenly enquired, causing the girl to blush deeply.

"I'm sorry sir..." She slowly trailed off.

"That was Harry," the red haired boy, who was sitting next to Hermione, blurted out. "He should be sitting in his playpen."

Harry immediately decided that he did not like the boy. He smiled at the professor and said, "Sowwy Gwanda, I lub cats, no wike toads."

"Very well done then Harry," the Headmaster commended him, before he banished the toads and made the students practise a different spell.

'I love Trafigation,' Harry thought; however, due to the wandless magic that he had cast, he became tired again and leaned into Hermione's robes, drifting off to sleep instantly.

HP

During the following days, Harry always attended classes together with Hermione, and he enjoyed himself greatly. However, only a few days later, the summer holidays began, and Harry remained alone at Hogwarts with only his guardian, Aunt Poppy and Granddad Albus.

If the teachers assumed that it was going to become a quiet time, they were sadly mistaken. Only a few days after the beginning of the holidays, Baby Harry had a very strange and frightening dream.

Beginning of vision

He suddenly found himself in a large, dark stone room. A man was sitting on a huge seat, and three other men bowed in front of him like house-elves. Suddenly, one of the three men began to speak.

"My son told me that the de-aged Potter boy has been attending fifth year classes together with some annoying Gryffindors."

"Yes, Draco told me the same," another man confirmed, nodding. "Master, are you sure that he doesn't have his memories?"

"No, I'm not," the man with red eyes, who somehow felt familiar to Harry, hissed. "Find out where he's staying at Hogwarts and bring him to me."

With that the red eyed man cast a spell at the three men, which made Harry's headache even worse than it was all the time, and he woke up, sobbing because of the discomfort and the scary dream.

End of vision

An instant later, his Uncle Severus, of whom he slowly began to think of as his father, entered the room, giving him a questioning look.

"I seed a bad dweam," Harry complained, and his lower lip began to quiver, as he rubbed his hurting forehead.

"Look into my eyes and let me watch your dream, all right?" Severus said in a soothing voice, causing green eyes to meet obsidian orbs.

"The man," Harry suddenly mumbled, when he felt the other presence leave his mind, "he killed my mummy and made me small."

"Yes, that's right," his guardian confirmed, before he said, more to himself than to the boy, "Maybe you'd be safer with someone else than with me."

"No, tay wif Dada," Harry replied in a firm voice.

However, Severus shook his head. "If he finds out that I'm your guardian, he'll demand that I bring you to him," he said, thoughtfully. "In the morning, we'll discuss the matter with the Headmaster.

HP

Severus spent the first half of the night pacing his bedroom. 'Someone else has to take the boy,' he thought. 'I can't endanger him like that.' However, the annoying voice that sometimes spoke up from the back of his mind contradicted, 'He's your son already. And he said so. He called you Dada instead of Uncle Sevvy. You're a family now, you can't give him away. You have to think of something to keep him safe.'

'As if it was so easy,' Severus scoffed to himself. 'Even if I blood adopted him, the Dark Lord would know, as there isn't any other sixteen month old child at Hogwarts.'

He retreated to his lab in order to calm himself by brewing a potion. However, for the first time in years, he had to banish a half-brewed potion because of having stirred in the wrong direction. Sighing, he cleaned up his work space, downed a headache potion and made his way into the nursery, making himself comfortable in the recliner near Harry's bed, in which he had already slept several hours during nights, when he had to comfort the child from bad dreams every now and then.

However, not even the regular breathing sound coming from the baby's cot helped him to get some much needed sleep during that night. By the time it finally became light, he had decided, 'I'm not going to give him away. He's my son, and no one, not even the Dark Lord, will take him away from me. I made the mistake to separate from Lily, afraid that it would be too dangerous for her to be together with me, and it did not help her, on the contrary. I won't make the same mistake again.'

- The Great Hall -

Harry slowly trailed to the Great Hall next to Severus, somehow sensing that his dada was in a bad mood this morning. Of course, he had checked on him, dressed him and given him his potions for the headache and fever that kept coming back, but Harry noticed that he was subdued and not as talkative as usual - which meant that he had not said a word except from a small greeting and the question how he was feeling.

Only the Headmaster, Professor Sprout and Madam Pomfrey were present, when father and son reached the Great Hall. After greeting everyone, they quietly took their seats, before Severus turned to the Headmaster.

"Albus, the Dark Lord wants Harry," he said in a grave voice and informed his colleagues about Harry's vision.

"Well, that could be expected," Dumbledore replied, without the usual twinkle in his eyes, which Harry always found so funny.

'I hope Granny Mina comes back soon,' he thought, while he obediently began to munch a little bit of everything that Aunt Poppy had placed on his plate.

"What am I going to do?" Severus queried, sounding very upset. "What if he calls me?"

Before anyone could give his father a reply, Harry was pulled into a vision.

Beginning of vision

The man with the red eyes was sitting in the chair, in which Harry had seen him before. A man with long, white hair bowed in front of him, before he straightened himself and spoke up.

"My Lord, I have news about the Potter boy's whereabouts. Draco informed me that the boy always came to the Great Hall in the mornings together with Severus Snape. He spent the days with the Gryffindors and left the Great Hall after dinner again with Severus. Apparently, the old fool has made Severus his guardian."

The man with the red eyes nodded contentedly and replied, "That's indeed very good news, Malfoy. Show me your arm. I'm going to call Severus and make him bring the boy to me."

The other man pulled up his sleeve, revealing the image of a snake on his arm. The evil wizard grabbed the arm and hissed, "Come to me Ssseverussss my sssslave."

End of vision

With that Harry found himself back in the Great Hall. 'What is a slave?' he wondered, just when his father gripped his left arm in agony.

"He's calling me," he said and rose from his chair.

"Nooooooo," Harry shouted, reaching for Severus' left arm. Through his father's robes, he could feel the snake move. "Nooo, my father issss not your ssslave. You don't have a sssslave. You're bad," he hissed at the snake, feverishly wishing the evil wizard to not have any friends anymore, before he slumped in his seat, unconscious.

HP

"Harry!" Severus shouted, urgently, trying to lift his son's head.

"Leave him, Severus. I'm going to look after him. You need to go," Poppy said in a soothing voice, already waving her wand over the boy.

"It has stopped," Severus said in surprise. He hurriedly rolled up his sleeve, only to stare at the blank arm in shock. "It's gone," he said, incredulously, glancing from his arm to his son, whom the Healer just scooped into her arms.

"Harry made the Dark Mark vanish," the Headmaster threw in, staring at his youngest colleague's arm with a combination of disbelief and amazement.

"That was very well done, though Harry's in a coma," Poppy then said, gravely. "He still possesses his older self's magic, which was much too strong for his small body to handle. Other than that he's fine, but I can't tell you if and when he's going to wake up."

"Poppy, I'll do everything for him," Severus replied, worriedly eyeing the child. "Is there anything that I can do?"

The Healer let out a long sigh. "The only thing that we can and must do is to spend as much time with him as possible and to speak to him. Shall I take him with me?"

"No," Severus contradicted, sharply. "I'm going to take care of him. You may of course come and visit him at any time, especially since I need to brew the complete hospital wing stock of potions during the next few weeks." Turning to the Headmaster, he added, "Albus, I wish to adopt Harry. He's my son already, and I want to make it official."

"Very well my boy," Albus replied in a gentle voice, his usual twinkle, which always annoyed Severus greatly, returning to his eyes. "I'll prepare everything. Do you wish to blood adopt him?"

'Maybe that would be the best. Then he'd be really my son in blood and not only Potter's,' he mused, before he replied affirmatively.

- Harry's room -

When Harry's mind turned back to awareness, he felt slightly confused. 'What happened?' he wondered, before he remembered that he had made his arm very tingly and used magic on the snake on his father's arm. 'I hope it helped,' he thought, noticing in relief that his father was asleep in the recliner next to his bed.

"Dada," he spoke up, cheerily, causing his father to jerk awake.

"Harry, you're awake," Severus replied, sounding very happy. "You gave us a huge fright, son."

Harry smiled. His father was smiling, so everything was all right.

"Harry, you were in a coma for two months after what you did to the Dark Mark," Severus explained, giving the boy a stern look. "School is going to begin again the day after tomorrow."

"Can I stay with you?" Harry asked, urgently, suddenly feeling worried again.

"Yes son, you may stay with me," Severus replied, a small smile playing on his lips. "I decided to blood adopt you and make you my son in real. Is that what you want?"

"Dada," Harry replied, grinning happily. "Yes."

"Very well then, let's call Aunt Poppy to have her check on you, and then we'll see when I may give you the adoption potion," Severus decided and, after a glance at his wrist watch to confirm that it was not too early in the morning, called Cicero, his house-elf.

"Cicero, please tell Poppy that Harry has woken up," he instructed the elf, who gave him a sharp nod and popped away.

HP

A few minutes later, the Healer bustled into the room. "Harry," she said, smiling, as she sat on the edge of his bed. "I'm glad that you're awake. We've all missed you a lot."

"Hi Aun Poppy," Harry replied, grinning.

"Harry, I don't know if you remember that we told you that you were already fifteen and a big boy before," Poppy said, questioningly.

"Yes," Harry replied, unsurely. 'I know that the man with the red eyes made me small,' he thought, grimly.

"And even if you don't remember being big, you still have your strong magic. Your body is too small to handle so much magic though, so you must be very careful to not use much magic. Do you understand me?" she queried, sounding very stern.

"Yes," Harry replied, although he had no idea how he was supposed how much magic to use. 'I only made my arm tingly and talked to the snake,' he thought, absentmindedly noticing a tingling sensation run up and down his body, as the Healer waved her wand over him.

"Harry is completely well now, apart from the effects of the dark spell that causes his headache and temperature," Aunt Poppy told his father. "You may give him the adoption potion now."

Seeing that Severus gave him a questioning look, while he produced a small, red phial out of his robe pocket, Harry sat up and reached for the phial, smiling. He sipped the potion, which did not even taste bad, and handed back the phial, when his body exploded in pain. It only lasted for a second though, before the Healer spelled a pain relieving potion into his system.

"Congratulation Harry and Severus," Poppy said, smiling. "Harry has still Lily's beautiful eyes but your hair. You look very handsome, Harry."

Severus thanked the Healer before he picked up Harry and dressed him in his favourite green jumpsuit with the little cats.

"Now let's go to the Great Hall for breakfast," he suggested. "I'm sure you're going to have a nice surprise."

- The Great Hall -

All the way down to the entrance hall, Harry wondered what the surprise might be. However, only when he entered the Great Hall behind his father, he saw... "Gwanny Mina!" he shouted in absolute delight, dashing towards the Head table.

Only when he stood behind his child seat, which - to his great delight - had been placed between his father's and his granny's chairs, and jumped up and down, happily, did he notice that another new person was occupying the Head table. "Uncy Mooey?" he asked, uncertainly.

"Yes Harry, it's me, Uncle Moony," the man replied, smiling at him. "I'm the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor."

"We're all very happy that you finally decided to wake up, sweetie," Minerva told him, as she lifted him up and placed him in his chair.

Harry enjoyed himself greatly. He was very happy to have his Granny Mina back plus unexpectedly Uncle Moony, and everyone was in a good mood after worrying about him for two months.

"Harry, I'd like you to stay with Granny Minerva for a few hours, because I still have to brew some potions before school begins," Severus informed him, when they had finished their breakfast.

"I help bwew?" Harry queried, giving his father a pleading look.

However, Severus shook his head. "No Harry, the lab is too dangerous for an eighteen-month-old. When you'll be two next spring, you may come and assist in the lab."

"Awwigh," Harry replied with a sad expression.

- The Room of Requirement -

However, his mood changed quickly, when Minerva took him to an amazing playground with slides, swings and anything beyond his imagination. He immediately engrossed himself in playing, only absentmindedly nodding, when Minerva asked him if he liked cats. Only when she transformed into a tabby cat, he looked at the cat in awe.

"Come kitty," he shouted, happily cheering when the cat followed him through tunnels and even jumped onto the slide in order to slide down together with him. After playing for what seemed to be a short time, he felt the urge to sit down and just cuddle with the cute cat.

Unfortunately, the cat soon changed back into her human form and informed him that it was time for his nap before lunch, and as much as Harry protested and assured his granny that he wasn't tired, she insisted that he had to sleep for a while.

After lunch, they returned to the playground, where Minerva allowed him to fly over an especially soft ground in the back of the room on a toddler's broom. To his great amusement, she gave him a small ball with golden wings, which she invited him to catch. He had a lot of fun, searching for the ball that continuously tried to hide from himself. However, as difficult as it was, he always managed to catch it after a little while.

"You're a very talented flyer," Minerva commended him greatly. "You'll surely be able to play on a House team, when you'll be a student at Hogwarts."

- Harry's room -

Later in the evening, Severus gave Harry a bath, put him into his crib and read him a bedtime story, before Minerva and Poppy kissed him good night and gently tucked him in. Finally, Severus noxed the lights and left the room, leaving the door open as usual.

Harry snuggled into his covers; however, sleep did not come easily. Since a little while, his scar had began to hurt, and he could feel someone being very angry and upset about something. Even if Severus had given him the normal potions for the after effects of the dark spell, the headache potion had not worked for the pain in his scar.

Through the open door, he observed how his father, Minerva and Poppy all changed into cats. While Minerva transformed into the same tabby cat, which had been playing with him earlier, his father was much larger cat and completely black, while Poppy was a very cute white cat with black paws. The three cats lowered themselves on the carpet in front of the fireplace and cuddled with each other.

Harry longingly observed the cats for a few minutes, before he decided, 'I want to be a cat too.' Not remembering any instructions about not doing magic, he wished himself to become a cat like he had seen Minerva and his mummy simply change into cats at free will. An instant later, a marmalade kitten with emerald green eyes made its way out of the crib, jumped down onto the floor and trailed to where its family was resting in front of the fireplace.

- The Snapes' living room -

With the pain in his scar gone in his cat form, Harry happily snuggled against the other cats, unaware of the glares that he received from the adults.

=Harry,= the lynx said in disbelief.

=He managed to transform into a cat,= the tabby cat added, torn between amazement and irritation.

The white cat angrily waggled her tail. =How could he use so much magic in spite of what I told him earlier.=

=He's as reckless as his older self was,= the lynx agreed, his tail moving from the left side to the right and back in annoyance.

=At least he didn't deplete his magic, and maybe his older self was already a cat Animagus= the tabby cat threw in. =I'm proud of him,= she added, as she gently began to clean the sleeping kitten's fur.

- The Great Hall -

"Harry is a cat Animagus?" Dumbledore asked in apparent excitement. "Maybe that's the power that he knows not."

"Albus," Minerva threw in, staring at the Headmaster in annoyance. "This is ridiculous. Oh well, I don't believe in prophecies anyway."

"Way to go, Minnie," Poppy agreed, while she cut some fruits for Harry.

'The problem is that Albus and the Dark Lord believe in that stupid prophecy,' Severus thought, grumpily. 'I'd be so happy if Harry was allowed to be free from that nonsense and just grow up as a normal boy. I wonder what the Dark Lord is doing now anyway. I'd have expected him to contact me by now.'

HP

Like before the summer holidays, Baby Harry attended classes together with Hermione. Sometimes, he quietly played in his playpen, while at other times he observed the students cast spells, especially in Transfiguration and Charms, where he could enjoy the effects.

- The Greenhouses -

It was on a Monday morning just a week after the beginning of the new school year that Harry was suddenly pulled into a vision.

Beginning of vision

The red-eyed wizard was together with the man with long, white hair, whom Harry had seen in his visions before, and they seemed to be on the Hogwarts grounds.

"My Lord," the white haired wizard said, bowing deeply.

"Malfoy," the other greeted him, "where's the Potter boy?"

"Draco told me that he still attends the sixth years' classes and that they have Herbology at this time of the day," Malfoy replied.

"Very well. I remember where the greenhouses are. I'll go and kill him off. You stay here and wait for me."

With that the red-eyed man strode towards the castle, and the vision ended.

End of vision

Almost instantly, Harry's scar began to hurt. "Mynee," he whispered to attract the girl's attention. "De Dawk Lowd is comin hewe now to kill me," he informed her, before he changed into his cat form.

"All right sweetie," Hermione whispered back, unobtrusively sliding the small kitten into her robe pocket.

As Harry had predicted, it merely took a few minutes, before the door of the greenhouse was blasted open and Voldemort stormed into the room.

"Where's Potter?" he shouted, glancing around the classroom.

"He has been with Granger until now," Draco was the first to speak up, before the professor, who was just tending to a very delicate plant, even realised that something was off in her class.

"Who's Granger?" Voldemort hissed, glaring around.

"That would be me," Hermione replied and cast the killing curse at the evil wizard, before the man could even cast a spell.

In front of the sixth year Gryffindors and Slytherins, Voldemort sank to the ground, as soon as the curse hit him square in the chest.

Casting a powerful Protego charm around herself and Harry, Hermione whispered to the kitten, "I hope he's gone for good."

In the meantime, Professor Sprout had urgently called the Headmaster as well as the Healer, and Pomfrey waved her wand over the evil wizard multiple times, before she announced, "He's dead."

"But that's impossible," Dumbledore said in disbelief. "The prophecy."

Pomfrey let out a snort, grinning at Hermione.

"What's going to happen to me now?" Hermione suddenly spoke up in a small voice. "Am I going to be sent to Azkaban?"

"No dear," the adults replied, simultaneously.

"You're going to receive the Order of Merlin first class," the Headmaster reassured the girl, before he dismissed the students, announcing that all classes would be cancelled for the rest of the day and everyone was invited to attend a demise party in the Great Hall. "Ms. Granger, please accompany me," he instructed the girl before leaving the greenhouse.

- The Headmaster's office -

Hermione hesitantly took a seat, politely declining the offered lemon drop. She carefully pulled the kitten out of her robe pocket and sat it on her lap.

"It's safe now to change back, sweetie," she told the child, smiling when he immediately transformed back into his human form.

"Harry?" Dumbledore enquired in obvious surprise. "Ms. Granger, who killed Voldemort?"

"That was me," the girl admitted. "Harry was in his cat form, and I kept him in my robe pocket, as he had informed me beforehand that Voldemort was going to show up in our classroom." When the Headmaster remained thoughtful for a moment, she queried, "Professor, what can I do to prevent Malfoy and other Death Eater children to cast the killing curse on me in order to take revenge?"

"I'm going to place a charm at Hogwarts, which will prevent anyone from casting an unforgivable spell," Dumbledore promised and waved his wand in a complicated movement, before he cast a Sonorus charm at himself and announced, for the whole school to hear, that all classes were cancelled for the rest of the day and everyone was supposed to make an appearance in the Great Hall.

"Let's go to the Great Hall and join everyone," he then said, pleasantly. "I intended to call the teachers here, but instead, we'll just share the good news with the whole school. I'll inform the Ministry later on."

- The Great Hall -

Severus swiftly crossed the Great Hall, hearing rumors, which were hard to believe, on his way to the Head table. He sighed in relief, seeing that Harry trailed into the Great Hall together with Hermione.

"Voldemort is dead," the Headmaster announced, causing everyone to stare at him in disbelief. "Ms. Granger managed to vanquish him in the greenhouses earlier this morning. Enjoy our demise party." With that he sat down next to his deputy.

Huge applause followed his explanation, while the teachers eyed the Headmaster in surprise.

'Thank Merlin,' Severus thought in relief. 'Now my son will be able to have a real childhood.'

"What I can't understand," Dumbledore said, thoughtfully, "is why Ms. Granger was able to kill Voldemort. A Muggle born instead of the prophesized boy."

Poppy and Minerva burst out laughing. "Albus, you should know by now that no one but you and Voldemort ever believed in that prophecy," Minerva explained, smiling at Harry, who was happily waving his hand at her from the Gryffindor table, where he was sitting on one of the twins' lap.

The End