𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐂𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 - the wizarding world

I. REGRESSION TO THE MEAN

I. REGRESSION TO THE MEAN
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"What is going on?" Lily asked, her voice filled with unease. "Sirius? Why can't Ivy be here?" Something about the atmosphere in the room did not sit well with her: the grim looks, even Snape's frown was deeper than usual.

"Lils..." Sirius said, swiftly turning to glance at Dumbledore. The old man nodded. He turned back to her, stepping closer. "There's a prophecy."

Frowning, she rubbed her arms as a chill travelled through her. "I know..." she said in a low voice. "That was years ago—"

"Another one," Dumbledore said, his gruff voice ringing through the room. "Involving you and young Ivy."

Lily breathed in and out before in again. "Sibyll?"

Minerva McGonagall shook her head. "An oracle, Inigo, which is why we've only learned of it so late. He had probably written it in a drunken stupor and lost track of it."

"It made its way to me last summer, after the attack on the World Cup," Dumbledore spoke. "Voldemort's followers had resurfaced after many years and so did the prophecy. Only, someone had put it into code, magical code."

"I assume you've been trying to decipher it? What have you found?" Lily asked, deciding to get over the fact that there was another prophecy that yet again involved her. She had felt a piece of her within Ivy, the piece she had lost that All Hallows Eve. Ivy had said that she had brought her back to life, piecing together parts of the puzzle in seconds without hesitation, without second-thinking. Lily believed the girl, without any good reason to do so.

Everyone thought that Lily Potter had a near-death experience, except it had been a death experience, just like Percy Shelley and Sir Allan Wallace before her. All because they had been lucky enough to meet the criteria for creating a doppelgänger, a harbinger of evil.

"That is why I have gathered Severus, Minerva and Sirius here, they have been aware of this prophecy ever since they accosted me during the Feast at the beginning of the year."

"We did not accost y—"

"You've known about this for months?" Lily questioned sharply, making severe eye contact with each of them, glad to see guilt behind all of their eyes. Except Dumbledore's. "And have kept it from me? From Ivy?"

"The time was not right," Dumbledore said. "It is now. For you." He waited a second, seeing if she was going to say more. When she did not, he picked up an ordinary notebook, which felt out of place between all of the extraordinary things in his office, and read; "Born on the day before Hallow; the child spawned from twice a dual; shall bring forth the Dark Lord's return."

"Now you see," Snape began, "why we had no choice but to keep this secret. If this got out, every witch and wizard would go after anybody who fit the description."

"Ivy will bring back... Voldemort?" Lily said in a whisper, a lump forming in her throat.

"We don't know that for sure," Sirius replied, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Why have you brought us here, Albus?"

"I have translated another part. And it is not good news, I'm afraid," he replied, clearing his throat and adjusting his half-moon glasses. He continued reading; "The doppelgänger's birth marked the Dark Lord's fall; thus his rebirth shall mark hers."

Sirius choked on his breath. "That's not—that cannot—no."

"You understand, now, why Ivy can never know about this prophecy?"

"To know one's death is imminent..." Snape muttered, rattled by this new discovery.

"We don't know that!" Sirius roared. "If Voldemort never comes back than Ivy never—she won't—no." his voice broke. He rubbed his stubble aggressively.