Harry Potter 06 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

now helping himself to Harry’s toast, was still gazing dreamily at the door.
    ‘What’s this?’ Hermione asked eventually, holding up what looked like a small telescope.
    ‘Dunno,’ said Ron, ‘but if Fred and George’ve left it here, it’s probably not ready for the joke shop yet, so be careful.’
    ‘Your mum said the shop’s going well,’ said Harry. ‘Said Fred and George have got a real flair for business.’
    ‘That’s an understatement,’ said Ron. ‘They’re raking in the Galleons! I can’t wait to see the place. We haven’t been to Diagon Alley yet, because Mum says Dad’s got to be there for extra security and he’s been really busy at work, but it sounds excellent.’
    ‘And what about Percy?’ asked Harry; the third-eldest Weasley brother had fallen out with the rest of the family. ‘Is he talking to your mum and dad again?’
    ‘Nope,’ said Ron.
    ‘But he knows your dad was right all along now about Voldemort being back –’
    ‘Dumbledore says people find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than being right,’ said Hermione. ‘I heard him telling your mum, Ron.’
    ‘Sounds like the sort of mental thing Dumbledore would say,’ said Ron.
    ‘He’s going to be giving me private lessons this year,’ said Harry conversationally.
    Ron choked on his bit of toast and Hermione gasped.
    ‘You kept that quiet!’ said Ron.
    ‘I only just remembered,’ said Harry honestly. ‘He told me last night in your broom shed.’
    ‘Blimey … private lessons with Dumbledore!’ said Ron, looking impressed. ‘I wonder why he’s …?’
    His voice tailed away. Harry saw him and Hermione exchange looks. Harry laid down his knife and fork, his heart beating rather fast considering that all he was doing was sitting in bed. Dumbledore had said to do it … why not now? He fixed his eyes on his fork, which was gleaming in the sunlight streaming on to his lap, and said, ‘I don’t know exactly why he’s going to be giving me lessons, but I think it must be because of the prophecy.’
    Neither Ron nor Hermione spoke. Harry had the impression that both had frozen. He continued, still speaking to his fork, ‘You know, the one they were trying to steal at the Ministry.’
    ‘Nobody knows what it said, though,’ said Hermione quickly. ‘It got smashed.’
    ‘Although the Prophet says –’ began Ron, but Hermione said, ‘Shh!’
    ‘The Prophet ’s got it right,’ said Harry, looking up at them both with a great effort: Hermione seemed frightened and Ron amazed. ‘That glass ball that smashed wasn’t the only record of the prophecy. I heard the whole thing in Dumbledore’s office, he was the one the prophecy was made to, so he could tell me. From what it said,’ Harry took a deep breath, ‘it looks like I’m the one who’s got to finish off Voldemort … at least, it said neither of us could live while the other survives.’
    The three of them gazed at each other in silence for a moment. Then there was a loud bang and Hermione vanished behind a puff of black smoke.
    ‘Hermione!’ shouted Harry and Ron; the breakfast tray slid to the floor with a crash.
    Hermione emerged, coughing, out of the smoke, clutching the telescope and sporting a brilliantly purple black eye.
    ‘I squeezed it and it – it punched me!’ she gasped.
    And sure enough, they now saw a tiny fist on a long spring protruding from the end of the telescope.
    ‘Don’t worry,’ said Ron, who was plainly trying not to laugh, ‘Mum’ll fix that, she’s good at healing minor injuries –’
    ‘Oh, well, never mind that now!’ said Hermione hastily. ‘Harry, oh, Harry …’
    She sat down on the edge of his bed again.
    ‘We wondered, after we got back from the Ministry … obviously, we didn’t want to say anything to you, but from what Lucius Malfoy said about the prophecy, how it was about you and Voldemort, well, we thought it might be something like this … oh, Harry …’ She stared at him, then whispered, ‘Are you scared?’
    ‘Not as much as I was,’ said Harry. ‘When I first heard it, I was … but now, it seems as though I always knew I’d have to face him in the end …’
    ‘When we heard Dumbledore was collecting you in person, we thought he might be telling you something, or showing you something, to do with the prophecy,’ said Ron eagerly. ‘And we were kind of right, weren’t we? He wouldn’t be giving you lessons if he thought you were a goner, wouldn’t