A/N: I realise that by calling this The Second Prophecy i'm conflicting with cannon a little but please bear with me!
“More?” Harry repeated emptily.
“Yes, I’m afraid that there is more that I need to tell you and I feel that now is perhaps a better time than any. I must once again apologise for not telling you everything and I hope that you can forgive me my mistakes; I made them trying to protect that which I hold dearest to me, my last surviving grandchild and my only granddaughter. I am certain that there is no kind of affection so pure as that of a father to a daughter. In love to our wives there is desire, to our sons and grandsons ambition, but to our daughters and granddaughters there is something that there are no words to express. Elizabeth has been my most precious gift for so many years now and I have fought with all my might to keep her out of harm. I see now that by doing so I have harmed her more.
“It is clear to me now, more than ever, that I should not have sent Elizabeth to Italy, and I should not have left you with your aunt and uncle. I should have kept you together and allowed you to know one another, to grow together as a brother and sister would have; but I did not. That was the intention of your mother and father and I have ensured that their wishes were not fulfilled. From the second you were born, it was decided that Elizabeth would be more of a sister to you than a cousin, largely because your family was so close. I have destroyed that and I am sorry. I helped to tear apart the Potter family and no apology will be enough. You don’t choose your family; they are a gift and their love is life’s greatest blessings. Other things may change us but we begin and end with family. I have always been an advocate for the importance of it and in my course I have deprived you of the loving home you deserved and made Elizabeth bitter because she felt that you deserved better.” As Dumbledore paused for a short breath, Harry glanced down at Ellie sadly.
“During her first year at school she wrote to me every week and she would beg to come home in every letter. I refused and gradually she stopped asking. She would tell me about the landscape and the weather. I should have realised the effect it was having on her. Elizabeth came to see you during one summer just after you started school here; she stopped by Arabella’s and watched you from the kitchen window. She came back in such a deep state of melancholy and I forbade her from visiting again. I made the tragic mistake that so many grandfathers do: I put her survival before her happiness, and it has been my undoing. I believed that I was making the two of you stronger, that you would learn to stand on your own two feet, that you wouldn’t be dependent on each other. After all, it was your dependence on my dear granddaughter that foreshadowed her death and I could not permit that. I am aware of just how selfish my actions have been but for that I will not apologise. Both of you understand. I know this because I have seen how fiercely you have fought for her life. Elizabeth, Aberforth and myself are all that remains of a once colossal family. I will do all that is necessary to ensure their survival and I know that the both of you would do no less.” While there was a look of terrible sadness resting around Dumbledore’s eyes and mouth, there was also a hint of defiance and strength that would not be shaken, even though his granddaughter lay dying by his side.
“We understand.” Harry gave Remus a fleeting look in an attempt to gauge his guardian’s reaction. “But you still stole my family.”
“I know, Harry. I regret that more than anything else.” Dumbledore shook his head sorrowfully.
“What did you mean when you said that Harry’s dependence on Ellie would bring about her death?” Remus was not as forgiving as Harry and pressed on with the issue at hand.
“You knew that I’d end up getting her killed?” Harry felt a surge of anger towards his headmaster.
“Please, let me tell you what I must before you allow yourself to succumb to your fury. I have told you about the prophecy made regarding your life but there was another prophecy made, almost a year to the day that yours was told. I know that it is a painful memory but I would ask you to remember the night I first told you of the prophecy, when I told you that there was another boy born at the end of July and you quickly and quite rightly pointed out that he could be the child described. But as I said to you that night, there were factors that confirmed you as the boy, most importantly the fact that Voldemort marked you. The second prophecy more clearly outlines you as the child of the first.” The headmaster’s eyes were once again beginning to twinkle heartily, like those of a pirate who he had just found his long searched for treasure.
“How?” Harry asked.
“I brought my Pensieve with me so that I might show it to you and explain its meaning and relevance.” Dumbledore withdrew his wand from his robes and conjured the stone bowl; he placed it on the table at the end of Ellie’s bed and immediately dropped his memory in to the silvery liquid. Sybill Trelawney’s ghostly figure rose out of the bowl and began to speak in her low demonic tones once more.
“THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD HAS BEEN BORN FORTH UNTO THE WORLD…THE TIME DRAWS NEARER FOR HIS FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH HIS ENEMY…BUT HE WILL HAVE A PROTECTOR…NEITHER MOTHER NOR FATHER WILL THEY BE…BORN ALREADY TO THOSE WITH THE SAME BLOOD…SHE WILL BE A GREAT PROTECTOR OF MEN…SHE WILL THRICE SAVE OUR VANQUISHER FROM DEATH…HE MUST REPAY HER SACRIFICE…THE ONE WITH THE POWER TO…”
Remus and Harry sat in shocked silence. “Elizabeth…” Remus finally muttered.
“Yes, this confirmed our beliefs.” Dumbledore agreed.
“But why? It still doesn’t give any more clues,” Harry protested.
“Indeed it does. It tells us that the child from the prophecy will have a female blood relation and the only female blood relation that Neville has is his grandmother, because he has no aunts or cousins. The second element which confirms that this prophecy is about Elizabeth is the expression ‘she will be a great protector of men’…”
“But how does that tell you that it’s Ellie?” Harry was more than just a little bit confused.
“Alexandra…” Remus mumbled.
“What?” Harry now gazed at his guardian.
“Elizabeth’s middle name is Alexandra,” Remus said shortly.
“What’s that got to do with anything?” Harry yelled in his puzzlement.
“Alexandra is the female form of the name Alexander. That name has been popular ever since the time of Alexander the Great and it has come to have the meaning great defender or protector of men. Elizabeth is well known for her tenacity when it comes to defending those whom she holds dear.” The wizened old wizard smiled down at his granddaughter with unveiled pride. “Is it now clear to you that this prophecy is about Elizabeth?” Dumbledore gazed at Harry intensely.
“I suppose,” Harry shrugged.
“Good, because the most important phrase decrees that she will save you from death three times, so far she has only saved you twice. To the best of my understanding this means that Elizabeth will live to save you a third time,” he finished triumphantly. The twinkle in his eye was shining brighter than it ever had and his frail looking hand was clenched into a firm grip on hers. To Harry’s mind it looked like he hoped that by holding on to Ellie so tightly she would not be able to drift away from him.
“The prophecy could be wrong,” Harry replied.
“I believe Ms. Granger has already discussed the accuracy of prophecies with you and has made you aware of how rarely prophecies are wrong?” Dumbledore inquired lightly.
“She did, but there have been inconsistencies. Maybe that’s what’s happened here,” he suggested.
“Perhaps you could be right, but a mistake in the number of times a person will cheat death is not a minor inconsistency,” the older wizard argued calmly.
“No, but there’s a first time for everything isn’t there?” Remus asked.
“Very true, Remus. However, you must forgive me if I don’t believe that Elizabeth is about to die. I cannot and will not believe it,” the headmaster said firmly.
“You might not have a choice,” Harry said in a tone of finality.
A/N: With all that out of the way Malfoy is due his comeuppance or so you would think…Defiance is next.