The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…

Born to those who have thrice defied him…

The anguish of loosing her firstborn, so soon after the death of her spouse and the absurdity of the manner in which the child was snatched from her had drawn her to a group with which she would never have otherwise associated.  They too had lost children to the seventh month.  They too wanted answers.  And they found them.  They acquired a copy of the two hundred year old prophesy that the Lord had ordered destroyed.  How they had managed the feat she didn't know.  Her position in their hierarchy was not one to make her privy to such knowledge.  But she knew the prophesy, that much she knew…

There were other things she knew as well, things that were normally kept secret from muggles.  Things many Masters didn't even know, like the reason all children displaying sign of magic were given the mark of magic immediately upon discovery.  Like the reason  why the combined magic of all the world's Masters could not defeat the Lord.  These things she knew.

There were things she did as well.  Little acts of rebellion that would result in her death were they ever discovered.  She hadn't done much yet.  It had taken courage to entrench herself more deeply into the group than the outer layer.  No she hadn't done much yet. By the time her child was born in June she had only acted out trice.

Born as the seventh month dies…

When the child arrived on Tuesday, the sixth day of June, in the year of Lord Potter two hundred, he was early.  More than a month early, in fact.  When he had been conceived on the seventh of November the previous year she had been horror struck to discover that he was due at the end of July.  She had hoped against all hope that he would hold out an extra day and survive to be born at the start of August. 

Already she had lost a child to the seventh month.  She couldn't have borne to loose another.  It didn't help that she now knew the reason the Lord would not allow children born in July to survive.  It didn't help that she now knew that those very children were the Lord's greatest fear, his greatest weakness and that that was why he eliminated them.  No it didn't help at all.

When her child was born, when his voice cried out as he was born, she rejoiced.  She did not worry about the fact that he was premature.  Her limited knowledge of the world didn't include the knowledge that early babies might have health problems.  Health problems were for the medical Master to take care of. 

The significance of the birth date, one day short of eight months after it was conceived, did not occur  to her.  All she knew was that her baby was alive.  It was alive because it hadn't been born in July.

And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal…

The child was brought into the presence of the Lord on Marking Day that year, the one day of the year that muggles other than those chosen from torture were allowed in the Lord's presence.   That day he received his number with all the other children born that year and to whom the Lord gave permission to live.  Others children were not so lucky, those that chose to cry in the presence of the Lord, those he found to be unsightly, those he thought too weak to be of use, those whose parents displeased him.  All those died but her child lived and was marked 6 784 769 874.

There was no escaping the tattooed number that everyone, be they muggle or Master, was marked with.  It was through those numbers that the Lord kept track of all of his subjects and it was using them that he randomly selected those people he would torture and kill when he became bored.  Those numbers which symbolized enslavement and submission to the Lord.

But he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…

The child showed his first signs of magic at age one.   Had such a things happened before she had joined with others like herself and learned what she did, she would have gone straight to her Master with the news so he could receive the mark of magic and train to be a Master.  She would never have denied him the chance to rise a rung on the hierarchy of the world had she not known the powers of the mark of magic, the way in which it restricted a person's magic.

The mark of magic connected directly through the Lord.  Through it he could draw on the restricted magic of a witch or wizard, granting him even more power than he normally had.  Through it, he could access the mind of it wearer, read their mind, see through their eyes or possess their body.  Through it he could instantly kill it wearer on a whim or if he felt threatened without even calling them to his presence.

  All this she knew and it was for this reason that she chose to keep her son's magic secret, despite the potential penalties.  For this reason the Lord was never told of his powers.

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 …

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Author's Note: Okay so I lied.  I wasn't planning to write any more in this universe but this little plot bunny insisted on being written.  The idea came about when one of my reviewers (don't check the review archives she reviewed in person) complained that the child in the first chapter had died.  Apparently she was hoping for the prophesied child to be born.  Unfortunately not only would that have been horribly cliché, but the safeguards put into place by Lord Potter made it such that a live birth would have been impossible.  As such, I tried to think of a way for the prophesy to be fulfilled.  After all, the fates cannot be escaped.  This chapter is the result.  Hope you enjoyed it.  Please review.