Henry awoke to the small buzzing hum of feathers next to his ear. It was still dark outside, but the little golden bird’s arrival signaled that it was time to work. Henry sleepily rubbed the head of the Snidget, eliciting a small coo from the bird and letting the bird know that Henry was getting up. He stretched and rolled out of bed, changed into his harvesting robes, and then went to the basin on the dresser, where he poured some water into its depths and washed his face, clearing the sleep out of his eyes.

He turned around to face the bed. He watched his wife continue to sleep while he gathered up his wand and the sack of delicate glass orbs. The moonlight poured over Isabelle’s sleeping figure, and Henry walked over to the bed, in awe of her beauty as he was every morning. He kissed her forehead, and she stirred slightly, mumbling an almost incoherent “I love you” to her husband. He smiled, returning the sentiment and rubbing his hand over the small swelling of her stomach. They were going to be parents; to twins, no less.

Henry slipped out of the small cottage in relative silence, the only noise being that of the tinkling of glass orbs in the sack slung over his shoulder. Once outside, he lit his wand to give a small amount of light before the sun rose enough to cast its rays over the moor. His feet found the modest dirt path easily in the dim light.

It was quiet and still when Henry started his journey, but soon he could hear a few birds in the distance off to the south of his path. The mists covering the ground all around him only added to the utterly surreal feeling of his task. Eventually he extinguished his wand as sunlight began to spill over the landscape. The morning sky began glittering with streaks of gold and orange. He loved seeing the sun rise like this.

Some people didn’t like to be given this post in the Department of Mysteries, but Henry thought it was fascinating, not to mention a beautiful sight to behold every morning. He’d seen enough things in his life not to find it at all eerie, though some did think of it as haunting. Others also grew restless with the seemingly insignificant task. Henry enjoyed the stillness of this task and the quiet cottage that the Gatherer stayed in. He would only be doing the job for another year, maybe only a few months. When the twins arrived, the family would be ready for a change of setting.

Henry saw the large stones towering above the moor a few minutes before he reached them. Muggles marveled over how the stones had been arranged, but Stonehenge was the old Hall of Prophecy set up by wizards, with the aid and wisdom of the centaurs, thousands of years before. That is why the prophecies still gathered there. The small number of naturally wild Snidgets also lingered in the highly magical place. They flitted about around him as he reached Stonehenge. He also heard the rising murmur of the prophecies.

The ghosts of the Seers mingled with the mists over the land, swishing around the large sandstone monuments. Henry set his sack down in the middle of the area, and opened it carefully. The small glass orbs sparkled in the faint sunlight, and he reached for the one on the top of the pile.

With the small container to hold the prophecy in his hand, he walked off to capture the nearest one. The imprint of a young man, probably around the age of sixteen, was roaming around the horseshoe arrangement of stones. His voice was foreboding, and Henry didn’t concentrate on what the spirit was actually saying. He’d learned early on that it was best not to try and take any of the prophecies into his own mind. Many prophecies never came true, and many were very personal. He only concentrated on capturing them for storage in the Hall of Prophecies in the heart of London.

Pulling out his wand, he cast a variation of the Summoning Charm. Catching hold of a wisp of the spirit, he wrapped it as well as he could around the glass orb. The orb began to draw the prophecy into its interior, but it would take a few minutes for the prophecy to become completely encased in the glass, and so Henry set it down on the ground next to his sack while he went about collecting the other prophecies drifting around.

There were only three others this morning, and once he had collected them, he sat down to watch the sun finish rising. He scooped the four prophecy-filled orbs into his sack. The feel of a prophecy orb in one’s hand was a feeling of a different sort of power. The power of the future. Lives and events hanging in the balance. Unknown mysteries of the future.

The Muggles would be coming to look at Stonehenge soon.

Henry slung the sack carefully over his shoulder, and made his way back to the cottage of The Gatherer. He picked a nice array of flowers on his way to give to Isabelle. Their anniversary was today. He slipped into the cottage, hearing the sounds of breakfast preparation in the small kitchen.

“I’m home, dear,” he called loud enough so she could hear him.

“Come back as soon as you’ve sent them along,” she replied.

Henry walked to the wardrobe in the hallway. He opened it up, stepped inside, pushed through the coats, and then opened the door at the other side. It opened to a small room with a plain wooden box with a lock on it. Henry ran his finger along the back edge of the lid until it hit the key that was stored in the slot there. He unlocked the chest and then put the four prophecy-filled orbs inside. He closed and locked the chest. There was a whirring sound, and Henry knew that meant the prophecies had been transported. From there, an Unspeakable inside of the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic’s headquarters would listen to the prophecy, place it on the shelves in the Hall of Prophecies, label it, and then perform the charm which would allow only the correct people to access it.

That Unspeakable would then pull the memory of the prophecies out of his mind and deposit it into one of the largest pensieves in the world, to be forgotten and lost. Unless someone dared brave the dangers of a sea full of prophecies. Only three wizards in the world had the knowledge and power to be able to navigate those seas.