Whispers

Thirteen

Calliope had to shrink the robes so that they would fit her properly. But she walked into the ministry of magic on her first day, making a direct beeline towards the lifts. She wasn't sure if it was her or the robes that earned her the stares of the other ministry workers, but she knew that neither was the reason that Percy Weasley stared at her so intently across the lobby. 

She ignored these stares, however, and moved into an empty lift. Which descended down to the bottom level of the ministry. The lift clattered to a halt and Calliope exited to see another person in the same robes waiting for her. The woman had short, cropped hair, dark skin and was tall and slender. 

"Mrs Wealsey?" the person asked.

"Yes, that's me, who are you?" 

"My name is Quiney Drawley. Welcome to the Department of Mysteries."

********

Calliope did not venture through the veil again for quite a long time. She took notes on that which the whispers shared with her, and in turn, she shared this information with the Order of the Pheonix. 

"I want to go through it again," Calliope told Fred one night with her head resting on his chest as he played with her hair.

"Do you need to?" 

"No."

"Then why risk it? We don't know if you'll survive it again."

"We don't have any reason to think it was just a one-time thing." 

Fred sighed heavily. Calliope knew he would not argue with her anymore and that she would go into the veil again the next day. But for that particular moment, she was content to lie there with Fred. 

********

Calliope didn't see any dead friends on her trip through the veil. This time she saw the fulfilment of a prophecy, a prophecy which she had not heard before, but which became very potent in her mind.

Neither shall live while the other survives. Harry had to die for Voldemort to die.

Calliope burst out of the veil, surprising many of her colleagues who were studying the veil's reactions whilst she entered it. She didn't hesitate to talk to any of them but strode up the stone steps towards the door.

"Weasley where are you going?" demanded Quiney Drawley as Calliope breezed past her.

"Home." Calliope let the door close behind her and hastened through the ministry. She had no intention of going home, she was going to Hogwarts where she had a bone to pick with the headmaster.

Calliope stood at the gates of Hogwarts, looking up the drive towards the castle, which was silhouetted with the light of the sun. She cocked her head, wondering vaguely how she was going to enter.

"Wotcher Calliope," Calliope turned to see Tonks walking towards her. "What 're you doing here?"

"I need to speak to Dumbledore," Calliope said, "can you let me in?"

"Expecto Patronum," Tonks said, her Patronus emerged from her wand and sprinted up towards the castle. "Someone will come and get ya in a sec."

"Thankyou Tonks."

After a few moments, McGonagall could be seen approaching the gate from the castle. 

"Thankyou Nymphadora," McGonagall opened the gates and allowed her to enter, "Miss Doge, what are you doing here?"

"Mrs Weasley," Calliope corrected her, as McGonagall closed the gate behind Calliope. "I'm here to see Dumbledore please."

McGonagall raised her eyebrows and began walking towards Hogwarts, gesturing for Calliope to follow her. 

"I hope that nothing is going to go too wrong?" McGonagall asked Calliope as they walked towards the castle.

"I wouldn't be here if that were the case."

They walked in silence to Dumbledore's office. McGonagall gave the password to the Gargoyle and left Calliope at the bottom of the stairs.

"Come in," Dumbledore said. Calliope had already busted through the door, "Ah, Calliope my dear how can I help you."

"I went through the veil again," she said, taking a seat opposite him. "Do you want to know what I saw?"

"I would assume you are here to tell me," said Dumbledore with interest.

"I saw your plan, I saw the fulfilment of the prophecy," Calliope told him, "I saw Harry dying. How long have you known that it would go like this? All of his life? Have you been raising him to send to the slaughter?"

Dumbledore said nothing, it seemed that he had been rendered silent by Calliope's words.

"Are you going to say, anything Professor?" Calliope asked him after a while.

Dumbledore sighed, "do you not think that I was perhaps right in my decision to keep this from Harry?"

"Yes probably," said Calliope, "people don't often handle the prospect of their own death as well as you have been doing Professor."

"Ah, you know about that too."

"That you're planning your own death? Yes, I know about that."

"Will it work?"

"It will."

Dumbledore looked down at his blackened hand and sighed deeply. Calliope noted how exhausted he looked.

"I wondered how you expected to keep all of this a secret from me?" asked Calliope.

"I did not suppose to keep it a secret from you," confessed Dumbledore, "I have been waiting for the decision to settle enough for you to see it, it appears that it finally has."

"How long have you known?"

"I have suspected for years."

"You've suspected for years that there was a piece of Voldemort living among us?" 

"Yes, I regret to say I can see no other option," Dumbledore said, "Harry must die before Voldemort can." Dumbledore looked visibly upset at this, which was strange as Calliope had never seen him express this kind of emotion. "There is no other way I presume?" 

Calliope nodded, "Harry has to die."

Fun Facts:
When I initially started writing this book, calliope was a Ravenclaw, then she was a Slytherin, then a Hufflepuff.
Calliope's last name was originally Emer before I decided that Elphias would be her grandfather.
This series has been in my drafts since 2017 because I couldn't work out how to write it properly.
Calliope's skin was originally going to turn green when she screamed (I'm glad that I scrapped that idea).

Remember to vote, comment and be amazing!
~Em xx