Chapter 1- One Last Idea
Rain was beating down on the windows of the Headmaster's office, as Dumbledore, Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat around a desk. It had been a gloomy day, and the war continued to press on, causing the Order of the Phoenix more despair. Voldemort continued to defeat everything they were throwing at him, and since the former Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, had neglected to get creatures on their side early on, they were now all under Voldemort's command.
It was getting close to midnight, and the four still had gotten no progress on ideas as to how to defeat the dark lord. Dumbledore's theory that Voldemort had made horcruxes using something from each of the Founder's was disproved when all of the remaining artifacts from the Founders did not have a horcrux within them. They had tried to use the Pensive to find artifacts from Voldemort's past, but there were only a few horcruxes within those, and everything else left them with no results. Obviously, Voldemort had meant for the last horcrux to be harder to find than the others.
Besides these hints that led nowhere, they were still left with one. That was R.A.B., the initials on the letter inside the locket, and the person who had discovered and destroyed the first horcrux. From the note it was easy to calculate that Voldemort had gotten to him by now. Their only problem was finding out who this person was. Hermione had dug through the library countless times, and was still without a reasonable person to fit the initials on the letter. This was the point that they had been discussing all night. In fact, it had been the point of discussion for several days now.
Now that Harry, Ron, and Hermione weren't attending their seventh year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, it gave them more time to put into finding a way to defeat Voldemort. Even though they weren't attending the school for their seventh year, Dumbledore was nice enough to offer them rooms in a tower located on the north side of the castle. They thanked him for it, because it gave them their own private space to think and relax without the hustle and bustle of the kids at school. They did miss school, but the war was more important to them now.
"What else could be a name for the initials 'R.A.B.,' guys? I mean, he must have been a pretty powerful wizard to be able to drink that liquid all by himself and escape. Dumbledore and I had trouble doing it ourselves, and there were two of us!" Harry exclaimed.
"You're forgetting though, Harry that this R.A.B. could have taken someone along with him just as I did. R.A.B. could have even been the initials of multiple people who were all working together against Voldemort" replied Dumbledore.
This was what they had been going back and forth on all night long--the possibility of no body being found, and the possibility that it was a group of people using fake initials. It was the only lead they had, and it was frustrating Harry to a point of no return.
"Well, what if each initial stood for a single person's name?" Hermione suggested. "I mean, if we're having trouble fitting one person's name into the initials, then it would make sense that each initial stood for a single person."
"Yes, Hermione, but even if you're correct that would make our search even more complicated. There are many people in the magical world whose names start with the letters 'R,' 'A,' or 'B,' and even so, by the time we find them Voldemort may have won the war already." Dumbledore replied. "Ron, do you have any ideas?"
"I've been thinking so hard that my head hurts, and still haven't got a clue!" Ron responded.
Dumbledore walked over to the window in the corner of the room. His face looked tired, anxious, and frustrated, traits that normally he was very good at hiding behind his old face and half-moon spectacles. Silence ticked on for what seemed like forever until Dumbledore finally began to speak again.
"There is one possible solution," he began, "but it is very dangerous, very meddlesome, and is the last thing that I would normally wish to do. But time is running out, and answers are not coming to us as rapidly as we need them."
The silence from the concentration of the trio rang throughout the room as they all tried to pick up on what Dumbledore was saying.
"If time is what we need, then time is what we are going to have to use" Dumbledore began to explain. "We have already used the Pensieve to find out as much as we can about Voldemort's past, and we have tried to use the present to defeat him as well, but there is one piece of time that we have not attempted to use--the future."
"But sir, that's really dangerous I mean, what if one of us is unable to get back, or even all of us for that matter. We would be erased from time, and be stuck in the time stream for the rest of our lives!" Hermione exclaimed.
"I know, Miss Granger. That is why I said it is the last thing that I would ever wish to resort to, but what else do you propose for us to do? All of our other ideas have not been useful at all, and we can't just sit here and wait for Voldemort to win the war!"
"I know, sir, but there must be another way!"
"You three, just because I proposed this idea, it doesn't mean that you have to do it. It is one of my last ideas, and I don't want to sit around, attempting to come up with ideas to defeat Voldemort when he could break into Hogwarts at any given time. Harry? Ron? How do you feel about it?"
"I don't know sir." replied Ron.
"Me neither" said Harry "Could we have some time to think about it?"
"Very well," replied Dumbledore, "you have until 8 o'clock tomorrow night to make a final decision, but for now, go talk it over and get some sleep."
The trio made their way over to the door. Before closing it, Harry glanced back, only to see Dumbledore sit down in his chair with his hands on his head with an uneasy look on his face.
