Questions

Albus was gone. The only thought that kept repeating in his mind again and again was that his mentor, the only person he looked up to, his grandfather in all but blood, was gone. Sitting there at his funeral, he could think of nothing else that he wanted more than him to come back, ok, may be Sirius, but Albus came a close second.

And yet, so many thoughts were vying for his attention. Where was the original horcrux? Who was this RAB, who had sent them on a fool's errand, which had cost headmaster's life? Why did the locket look familiar? Some memory seemed to be tugging at his mind. He had seen that locket before, something similar to it at least, he was sure. But where?

How could Snape kill Albus? If anything, Snape was extremely loyal to Albus,and yet,he had killed the headmaster. And all the while, Albus had been pleading with him.But pleading? Was there more than met the eye? Surely the headmaster realized the futility of his situation.? Why would he plead with Severus. Was he in fact pleading with him to maintain his cover, because there was anyways no hope for the headmaster? No, it couldn't be. If Snape so wanted, he could have easily taken out all of them single handedly,of this he had no doubt. Then why?

Will he be able to find the other horcruxes? They had taken out the diary and the ring. There remained the locket and Nagini, something of Helga, something of Rowena and something of Godric. But the million pound question, what were they, and how would he find them?

So many questions and no one to answer them!

More Questions

Aberforth watched with beady eyes, a thoughtful expression on his face. He knew the identity of most of them now, but he did not know their location, worse, he did not have the power. Only Albus was the one that he could really have faith in who also had the necessary power. He dared not discuss this in his department. He knew there was a leak in there, for are not all governments sieves? They hardly hold any secrets. And a secret this monumental? No way! He could not let anyone in the department know.

What could he do now? Had Albus got the one he went after? How would he know? His department had informed him that the potter boy's invisibility cloak had been found at the murder site. Had Albus taken him along? He wouldn't dare! It was too dangerous. But then, Albus thought very highly of the potter kid. If one were to believe him, and believe he did, the boy had already faced the dark lord five times after that fateful day, and come out victorious on three of them without help. Had he not conjured a patronus at age thirteen that had chased away a hundred dementors? Did he have the power to feed the ritual? Even if he had, would he do it?

Aberforth turned to look at the boy who sat in the end at a corner with his friends. He seemed to be lost, but his eyes had questions. What did he know about the boy? okay, here goes, excellent flier, good at defense, above average in other subjects, best friends were a poor pure blood and a muggleborn, lived with muggles before coming to Hogwarts without any idea of magic. Okay, this might work. But then, he also had not had a happy childhood. Would he agree to go there again?Only the boy could answer them.

It was time that he, Aberforth Dumbledore, talked to one Harry James Potter..

Discussions

"Hello Mr. Potter."

Harry focused on his surroundings when he felt eyes on himself. He immediately noticed an old man who looked very similar to his headmaster, but was distinctly someone else. For one, there were no twinkling stars within the eyes. Then there was that distinct black beady character in the gaze, Albus's had always been soft twinkling blue. So this man was definitely Albus's relative, probably his brother. As Harry watched, the man got up from his seat and walked towards where Harry was sitting with his friends and thusly he found himself being addressed.

"Hello sir, do I know you!"

"Oh how rude of me, no. you will forgive my manners, mr. Potter, But Albus's passing has me a little shook up. We had so many plans to cover, and now he is gone before their conclusions. But more than that, I miss my elder brother. I am Aberforth Dumbledore, Mr. Potter, and if you will permit, we need to talk about a few things which can not really wait." the man finished easily in a self assured manner, which was neither commanding, nor belittling, just a-matter-of-fact type of tone.

Harry blinked. He did not know that Albus had a younger brother. But he also immediately realized that he was being asked to take his leave from the proceedings at the earliest so that they could talk away from prying eyes and ears.

"Sir, I think we are done here for the day. Just give me a few minutes and I will be with you shortly. Am I allowed to bring my friends?" Harry asked. He knew he had several tasks to perform, and faster he got around accomplishing them, the better for all involved. Perhaps, Aberforth could help.

"I am sorry, Mr. Potter, but I must request you to come alone. Some things that I have to tell you, I am sure have already been conveyed to you by my brother, while others may be what he intended to tell you in time, but there are some things that he would never have expected or allowed me to tell you to even consider. He loved you too much for that" Aberforth replied, reminiscing about albus.

Harry acutely felt the pang of his loss at those words. He knew that Albus loved him dearly, just like Sirius, just like his parents. Why did all those who loved him have to die? Each one of them was lost while trying to protect him, why couldn't they be a little bit selfish and save themselves? Was he really worth all their sacrifices?

Silently he nodded, and looked meaningfully at his friends. They were feeling quite uneasy since the arrival of Aberforth, since none of them had probably met them before, but Hagrid looked on unfazed. So he must have met him before. But no one spoke a word and looked at him, telling him silently that he might as well go.

He walked to the white tomb of the greatest wizard he had ever known, and touched it with reverence. There was no escaping the fact now. He was gone. Forever. He would no longer look in those maddeningly twinkling eyes, he would no longer be offered those lemon drops at every meeting, for there would be no meetings. So many things that would be no more. Finally, he felt something inside him break at this acceptance and he wept. He wept for his loss some silent tears, and before anyone could reach forward to comfort him, he vigorously wiped them off.

"Where would you like to talk, sir?" Harry asked the old man.

Please Harry, it is just Aberforth, no sir. And don't you have a room somewhere in the castle where we could talk?" queried Aberforth.

"Its Harry then, and yes, there is one such room. Please follow me sir. Hermione, Ron, I will meet you in the common room after I have talked with Mr. Aberforth." Harry turned to his friends after he had answered Aberforth, and without waiting for their answers, walked off towards the castle, Aberforth in tow.

Some Answers

Not five minutes later, Aberforth and Harry were ensconced in a look alike Gryffindor common room, but were sitting in the room of requirements. Without any preamble Aberforth spoke.

"Harry, before I begin, I must ask if you know from where Albus was returning. As far as I know, he was scheduled to make a trip to the cave, and I presume you went with him. If it is true, you must tell me if you two were able to procure the locket?"

Harry looked at Aberforth with his mouth agape, dumbfounded. He was of the belief that only he and Albus knew all the details about the horcrux besides Voldemort, and here was a man, who spoke of the trip to procure a horcrux as a stroll in the park. Seeing his expression, Aberforth became exasperated and continued.

"Come on Harry, you could not have expected Albus to continue the search for horcruxes, with the possibility that they be anywhere, and simultaneously run the school..?"

"Oh, it seems that you did. Let me tell you young man, that I had the utmost confidence of my brother, and that I was his eyes and ears in hogsmeade. Surely you must have known that I own the Hog's head?"

Harry did not know what to say. He looked on dumbfounded.

"It seems I will have to do all the talking, hmmm. But before I continue, you must answer the question I put forward to you..." Aberforth said.

Harry came out of his shock and looked at the man. He had a sense of relief on hearing that Albus shared the information with someone else. A task, which a few minutes ago seemed to be daunting, nearly insurmountable, now seemed so much more achievable.

"No sir, we did not find the horcrux there, instead, there was this fake in its place", Harry said, as he took out the locket which he now carried with him always.

Aberforth took the locket from his hands and looked at it. He then opened it, and read the note which was placed inside. He then started to laugh.

"Oh Regulus, so you finally grew a backbone in the end! I always wondered why he killed you." turning to Harry, he grew serious once more.

"Harry, I know you have been living in 12, Grimauld place. Have you seen a similar locket there, by chance? One, which more resembles the one you saw in the memory obtained from Hokey the elf?"

Suddenly Harry remembered where he had seen the locket. It was the same locket that they were unable to open in the summer after their fifth year when they were cleaning 12, Grimmauld place.

"Yes, it was there. But, but, we threw it out probably. If not, Fletcher must have got his hands on it and already sold it off!"

"No matter. At least we now know where it might be. And it brings us to the more pertinent question, do you know about the other horcruxes, and where they might be?" Aberforth immediately got down to business.

"Sir, before I tell you what I know, who was Regulus?" Harry asked.

The old man looked at him with sad eyes and said," Your godfather had a brother, Regulus Acturus Black. He became a death eater immediately after graduating from Hogwarts', but was killed after a few months by Voldemort himself in a fit of rage, as told by Severus. On the matter of Severus, I also have to tell you something else."

Harry's eyes clouded with rage on hearing the name of the traitor." Don't you dare talk about that vile traitorous scum bag! What do you want to tell about him that I need to know? The only thing worth knowing is that the next time we meet will be the last for either of us, hopefully him!" Harry raged

"Hold your horses, young man! You don't know shit about Severus, so don't you dare sully his name. He has done more for the cause of light than anyone else except Albus, your mother or you! So you will listen to me quietly while I tell you the truth about the matter and you will respect him for his contribution in this war, if not for teaching." Aberfoth bellowed.

Harry was suddenly intrigued. What was the truth? Was he thinking along the correct stream of reasoning earlier?

"Yes sir", he simply said.

"Even before Severus fired off the killing curse, Albus was dying! The curse which was in the ring could not be countered, in spite of the best masters of light and dark, Severus and Albus. You will be surprised to know that Severus is the equal of Voldemort in the dark arts. He only lacks the Parseltongue magic and a bit of power! Albus made Severus promise that no matter what, he would not blow his cover. So, if you tell me what exactly happened on that tower, I might be able to put things in perspective for you."

And with those words, everything fell in place for Harry.