The prophecy was dark.
Dumbledore's owl arrived on the Tuesday with the specific brevity of someone who had confirmed something and was stating the confirmation rather than elaborating on it: 'The orb is dark. Your reasoning appears to be correct. — A.D.'
He showed the note to Harry and Hermione at breakfast.
Harry read it twice. His expression moved through something brief — the specific quality of someone receiving confirmation that a weight they had been carrying all their life was no longer the weight they had thought it was.
'No prophecy,' he said.
'No prophecy,' Ron confirmed. 'You have reasons to oppose Voldemort. You have specific capabilities that make you the right person to end this. But you are not bound by a prophecy. You are making a choice.'
Harry sat with this for a moment. Then he put the note down and went back to his breakfast with the quality of someone who had received something important and was choosing to put it in its correct place — not to diminish it, but to carry it at the right size.
'A choice,' he said.
'Yes,' Ron said.
'Good,' Harry said. 'I prefer that.'
Hermione, beside Ron, had the expression she had when something had resolved in the way she had hoped it would and she was allowing herself to be satisfied with the resolution. She reached for the marmalade without saying anything, which was Hermione's version of the same thing.