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His eyes burned suddenly and he blinked. He felt stupid for admitting it, but the fact that he had had someone outside Hogwarts who cared what happened to him, almost like a parent, had been one of the best things about discovering his godfather . . . and now the post owls would never bring him that comfort again. . . .
"Sirius represented much to you that you had never known before," said Dumbledore gently. "Naturally, the loss is devastating. . . .
"But while I was at the Dursleys' ..." interrupted Harry, his voice growing stronger, "I realized I cant shut myself away or or crack up. Sirius wouldn't have wanted that, would he. And anyway, life's too short. . . . Look at Madam Bones, look at Emmeline Vance. ... It could be me next, couldn't it. But if it is," he said fiercely, now looking straight into Dumbledore's blue eyes gleaming in the wandlight, "I'll make sure I take as many Death Eaters with me as I can, and Voldemort too if I can manage it." "Spoken both like your mother and father's son and Sirius's true godson!" said Dumbledore, with an approving pat on Harry's back. "I take my hat off to you or I would, if I were not afraid of showering you in spiders.
"And now, Harry, on a closely related subject... I gather that you have been taking the Daily Prophet over the last two weeks." "Yes," said Harry, and his heart beat a little faster.
"Then you will have seen that there have been not so much leaks as floods concerning your adventure in the Hall of Prophecy." "Yes," said Harry again. "And now everyone knows that I'm the one "No, they do not," interrupted Dumbledore. "There are only two people in the whole world who know the full contents of the prophecy made about you and Lord Voldemort, and they are both standing in this smelly, spidery broom shed. It is true, however, that many have guessed, correctly, that Voldemort sent his Death Eaters to steal a prophecy, and that the prophecy concerned you.
"Now, I think I am correct in saying that you have not told anybody that you know what the prophecy said." "No," said Harry.
"A wise decision, on the whole," said Dumbledore. "Although I think you ought to relax it in favor of your friends, Mr. Ronald Weasley and Miss Hermione Granger. Yes," he continued, when Harry looked startled, "I think they ought to know. You do them a disservice by not confiding something this important to them." "I didn't want " " to worry or frighten them." said Dumbledore, surveying Harry over the top of his half-moon spectacles. "Or perhaps, to confess that you yourself are worried and
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