"Do you think Albus knew it was Quirrell?" Sirius asked, throwing himself back in his chair.
Remus shrugged. "I find it hard to believe that he didn't suspect but I think Albus got too caught up in his grand plan. He wanted to catch Voldemort red-handed trying to get to the stone, fake or real."
"And because of that Harry almost ended up dead." Sirius muttered darkly.
"True and it brings us onto Albus testing theories about Harry and how he survived the Killing Curse." Remus said. "There are three which I'm sure Albus has considered: one, Harry was able to reflect the Killing Curse under his own power probably accidentally in self-defence; two, Lily did something just before she died to protect Harry; three, it was a combination of both."
"I'm going to say for the record that I'm not happy Albus tested Harry." Sirius stated indignantly. "He had no right…"
"I agree," Remus said soothingly, "but intellectually, I can appreciate Albus's curiosity. Aren't you curious?"
"I'm just happy he survived, Remus." Sirius said firmly. "Bollocks to how!"
"And there speaks the Gryffindor." Remus complained. "Honestly, if you can work out how Harry survived the Killing Curse then what can you do with the information?"
"Apply it to others if possible." Sirius replied promptly. "OK, OK, I see your point. So what did Albus conclude from his testing?"
"I don't know," Remus admitted, "but personally I think Albus ruled out number one fairly quickly after Harry's arrival at school."
Sirius frowned. "Why? Harry is a powerful wizard. He was doing magic as a baby! He has a corporeal patronus at thirteen, Moony!"
"Maybe but, DADA aside, he's a solid if unremarkable student for the most part." Remus asserted. "Some of that I think is the company he keeps; Ron is very average and Hermione is too good."
"You think he's deliberately placing himself so his friends don't get jealous?"
"I'm not sure it's deliberate per se, but yes. I would also say having worked one to one with him that some of his power might be suppressed." Remus sighed. "Probably because of the muggles. If he learned as a child that magic was bad and doing odd things was bad then…"
Sirius waved a hand to indicate he'd gotten the point. "So, you think Albus took a look at his grades and ruled out Harry himself as being the cause of his survival. You think Albus decided Lily had done something."
"I do." Remus coughed and looked slightly abashed. "And I know she did."
"You know how…what? What did she do?" Sirius demanded, leaning forward.
"I don't know exactly," Remus qualified, "but she wrote to me just before I left for my last mission, asking my advice on something she had found in an old Runes book covering Witch magic. It was a protection spell. It required the blood of the child and the blood of the mother to arm, and the mother's sacrifice of her own life in protection of the child to activate. It creates, for want of a better explanation, a protective blood ward around the child attached to its very skin. The one who killed the mother would never be able to touch the child without penalty."
Sirius stared at Remus shocked. "Merlin, Remus, that sounds…"
"Like borderline dark magic? That's what I wrote back to her. I told her it wasn't illegal as it wasn't on the list of banned magic but it wouldn't go down well if she used her own child's blood in a spell outside of familial magic." Remus rubbed a hand through his hair. "There were specific conditions that had to be met regarding the sacrifice too – in particular, the attacker had to kill her in order to specifically get to the child. It was a long shot. Lily wrote back telling me that she would do everything she could to protect Harry. That was the last letter I received from her."
"Wait," Sirius said, "you said that the attacker – Voldemort – would have to kill her because she needed to be removed to get to Harry specifically?"
Remus's eyes widened, realising the implication immediately. "You think…well, it makes sense if the spell worked, but…Voldemort was after Harry?"
"Did they ever tell you why they went into hiding, Moony?" Sirius asked. "James just told me that Dumbledore had received some information and they thought it was a good idea."
"They told me the same thing but…" Remus tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair. "The Longbottoms went into hiding at the same time didn't they? Because of the same intelligence? Neville was born around the same time as Harry…but why would Voldemort target the children unless…" he stopped abruptly, as the pieces of the puzzle slid together suddenly. "What if there was a bloody prophecy?"
"I know who could probably answer that." Sirius said dryly. "Not that he will."
"No, if Albus thought there was a prophecy, he'd keep it close to his vest." Remus growled angrily.
Kreacher popped back in with a tray of food for dinner and they both fell silent lost in their own thoughts as they focused on the meal.
"OK," Sirius said, pushing his plate away and reaching for the pumpkin juice, "so let's recap what we know."