Chapter Seven: The Heist
Rose spent every night that week making plans for the theft of the stone. Albus wanted to help her, but he had allowed his homework to pile up again. He figured she would find him as more of a hindrance than a help anyway. They would sit in the common room together, each working on their separate projects, occasionally asking one another for an answer or idea. Albus feared that James had come to suspect that what they were doing wasn't always homework, but if he did he never questioned them about it. It was a week after they had begun working like this that Rose suddenly looked up excitedly and announced, "It's done! I did it!" Nearly the whole common room turned and looked at her as she said this, causing her to flush and mutter something about a difficult History of Magic essay.
"History of Magic? That's the best you could do? There's absolutely nothing difficult about that class except for trying to stay awake through it," Albus chided jokingly, causing Rose to flush deeper and simultaneously shoot him a look.
"Well do you want to see the plan or not?" Rose hissed, forcing the parchment into his hand before he even had a chance to answer. He had to admit: it was a pretty good plan. A detailed map of the tunnel as well as the bar was drawn across one half of the parchment, while numbered instructions for both Rose and him were scrawled across the other. Albus would enter the tunnel alone, Disillusion himself inside, and listen through the other entrance of the portrait to see whether Aberforth was there. After any sound from within, Albus would return for Rose, who would be waiting, Disillusioned, in the corridor outside. She would then make herself visible and traverse the tunnel through to the bar on the other side, bringing the still invisible Albus with her. He would then be free to look for the stone for however long she could talk with Aberforth. When he found it, he would tug her sleeve three times, and they would leave. The only thing they had to worry about was Arianna warning Aberforth about Albus being there, but they got the feeling that she didn't (or couldn't) talk much. Glancing at the top of the page, he saw the title of the plan and laughed aloud. It read: The Heist: Ninth Revision.
"It took you nine tries to come up with this?" Albus laughed.
"My first few were really bad, okay? I had it right by the eighth one, but I decided to add the map and that made it nine." Rose's face had colored again, and she seemed fairly embarrassed—Albus wondered what her first few plans consisted of. "Anyhow we should be off to bed. I'm planning on doing this tomorrow."
"Bed? Now? Rose, it's only like nine o'clock!" Albus still had a lot of work to do and was not in any condition to go to bed early.
"Yes, Al, now. You can finish this in the morning," she said strictly.
"But it's due in the morning!"He protested, silently pleading with her. Finally she sighed.
"Fine. If you're going to get any amount of sleep, I guess I'm going to have to help you then."
"You are honestly the best cousin in the world, Rose," Albus said graciously.
"I know," she grinned. "Now hand over that essay."
Albus was even more apprehensive about this 'visit' than he had been of the last one. His Disillusioning Charm had improved greatly, and he could now become entirely invisible to the naked eye. But Albus was still extremely nervous about getting caught. How furious would Aberforth be when he found out that they'd deceived him? The day seemed to fly by, and sooner than he liked, he found himself leading an invisible Rose to the painting. Albus found the portrait with a quick thought of his necessity and crawled into the tunnel. He Disillusioned himself then, and proceeded down to the end of the tunnel. Waiting seemed to take an eternity, and no sounds seemed to come from the other side of the portrait. Then, just as Albus had begun to worry he would drift off to sleep, he heard noise creeping from the room he was listening in on. A soft voice spoke soothing words that Albus couldn't quite make out; a strange sound, like scraping nails on a chalkboard, startled Albus. He adjusted himself and listened again, his ear closer to the threshold.
"I understand where you were coming from, Aberforth, I really do. You were trying to protect her from me, then yourself from what you thought I did," the voice spoke slowly.
"But I should have known you never would have done it! I should never have blamed you!" Aberforth's voice rasped, followed by the scraping noise. Realization dawned on Albus: the scraping noise was… sobs?
"Then you should know that I blamed myself," the voice said, growing softer still. "I never knew who did it, but I blamed myself as well. And in my guilt I already have forgiven you your anger with me." At these words, Aberforth sobbed harder. When he finally seemed to regain some control, he spoke again.
"You were always a better man than I, Albus." Albus? He was right here, in the tunnel. Who was Aberforth talking to out there? A flashback of the picture Aberforth showed him racked his brain. Aberforth's brother was named Albus! But he was dead, wasn't he? Curiosity overcame Albus, and he cracked the portrait just enough to see out of. The voices were clearer now, but he couldn't see who spoke. Aberforth must be having this conversation directly in front of the painting. Albus quickly checked to make sure he was well Disillusioned before opening the painting slightly wider and sticking his head out. The first sight to strike him was Aberforth, who was sobbing on the floor looking a good deal dirtier than usual. Albus started to look for the man he had been talking to, but needed only look up and stop. A glowing specter was bent over Aberforth, attempting to console him. Albus knew immediately that this was Albus Dumbledore—the piercing blue eyes matched Aberforth's so well they could only be brothers. But Albus hadn't expected Aberforth to use the stone, especially not after the spectacular rant he went on when he discovered Albus had it. Albus had seen enough. He no longer wanted to steal the stone; it seemed too important to Aberforth. He began to retreat into the tunnel, trying to pull his head inside the painting without causing it to move too much. Out of nowhere, a sharp pain stabbed up his knee, and Albus jerked his head and leaned forward, trying to keep his weight off it. His display, however, attracted the attention of the specter, who looked up at him and… wait. Winked? Albus Dumbledore mouthed, "Go," and Albus Potter smiled gratefully and retreated into the tunnel. Before retreating into Hogwarts, Albus looked down to see what had caused his knee so much pain. Blood spattered the ground where he had just knelt, but seeing nothing of his leg, Albus realized that he was still Disillusioned. How had the specter seen him? Could those resurrected see through Disillusionment Charms? Well apparently they could. He'd have to warn Rose about this. And anyway. There was no way they were doing this heist, not after what he'd just seen.
Albus ran out of the tunnel, limping slightly (he suspected the rock that cut him was still embedded in his knee). He barreled out of the portrait and straight into a now-visible Rose.
"The charm wore off just a minute ago," she explained, but Albus wasn't listening. He explained quickly what he had seen and heard while Rose lifted the Disillusionment from him. "What does this mean, then? Are we still going to try and steal it?"
"No," Albus replied forcibly. "Not tonight, not any other night. I'll find some other way to figure out who this man is, but I am not going to steal that stone." Rose looked slightly defeated, but said nothing as they walked silently back to Gryffindor Tower.
