Chapter 21: Aberforth Dumbledore
Ever since the Gringotts incident, word spread as to what had happened. For Voldemort, he was furious as to what had happened to the point where he was interrogating the goblin with everyone watching. From what the goblin revealed, it seemed that Harry Potter and his allies were responsible. "What did Potter and Uzumaki take from the vault?! Tell me! What did they take?!" Voldemort asked maniacally. "A... a s-small golden c-cup m-my Lord..." the goblin stammered, before ultimately getting killed by Voldemort in a fit of rage. Everybody except Kurasame were shocked and terrified by the scene as Voldemort waved the Elder Wand and slashed around the room in anger. To the dark lord, his thoughts were on his snake Nagini who he tried to find with no luck and how Potter knew about the cup. But that's when he had an epiphany, as he looked eerily calm.
"My lord, is there a problem?" Lucius asked, as Voldemort looked at him. "Nagini isn't missing, she is dead and it's all because of Potter and Uzumaki. They know about the Horcruxes, they're onto me," Voldemort said. "My lord, don't worry we will do our best to find those two and bring them straight to you, you have my word," Lucius offered, before Voldemort waved him off. "You have already done enough and you have shown me that you are useless to my cause," Voldemort said, as he placed the elder Malfoy under the Cruciatus Curse. Lucius screamed in pain, while Voldemort watched calmly. "Kurasame…bring his family, I want them to watch what it means to fail me," he requested. "It will be done my lord," Kurasame stated, as he disappeared not before coming back with both Narcissa and Draco. The mother and son watch in horror as Lucius was being tortured under the Cruciatus Curse. As the elder Malfoy screamed in pain, Narcissa begged Voldemort to release him. Eventually, Voldemort stopped using the spell freeing Lucius. "Torturing you won't bring me any joy," Voldemort stated as he an ulterior motive for releasing him. Lucius breathed a sigh of relief, as he looked at the dark lord. "Thank you lo-"
Before he could even finish the sentence, Lucius got beheaded by none other than Kurasame, as he wiped the blood off of his blade. The Malfoys were shocked and eventually screamed as they saw the patriarch of the family get mercilessly beheaded by Voldemort's second in command. "That is merely a lesson of what it means to fail me and you do not want to end up like him now do you? Kurasame, if you will be so kind as to dispose of the body?" Voldemort asked calmly. Kurasame nodded and used a black flame spell to burn Lucius's corpse until there was nothing left. "I'm going to the castle to check on the diadem, make sure you find where Potter and Uzumaki are. Come Kurasame, let us go back to the castle," Voldemort said. Kurasame nodded and soon the two departed, whereas the Malfoy's were still in shock.
With Harry
Harry snapped back to reality, as the others looked at him in surprise. "Harry, you alright mate?" Naruto asked. "You-Know-Who, he's onto us, he knows about our plan. But that's not all, he had Kurasame kill Lucius Malfoy in a brutal manner," Harry stated. This was shocking to hear, as they all asked him how he knows about this. "I keep getting visions of him, he's heading to Hogwarts for the diadem. We need to head to Hogwarts," Harry mentioned. "Wait, we can't just go, we haven't got a plan," Hermione pointed out. "If we wait, we'll lose more time. Think about what would happen if he were to know that the ring and locket are destroyed. You-Know-Who would likely move the horcrux out of Hogwarts if he were to decide that it wasn't safe there," Harry mentioned. "So where do we go then?" Ron asked. "Hogsmeade. We go to Hogsmeade and try to figure out a way to sneak in," Harry stated.
"Alright then, Hogsmeade it is," Naruto stated. The four apparated to the snowy village and it was a good thing that it was dark so they could sneak through the night. "Hmmm looks like a snow storm is approaching, we could use that for stealth but we have to hurry," Naruto said. Just then the Three Broomsticks Pub door opened as hooded Death Eaters exited the pub. The four hid away as the alarms blared. "I'll take care of these bastards, wait for me here," Naruto said, as he pulled out a gaiter mask along with his fox mask and his chokuto. "We'll help out as well," Harry stated as he and the others wanted to help, to which the blond nodded. "If you guys are going to help, you'll need a disguise and some weapons. Harry, since they are after you, take this Oni mask, it'll hide your face and keep your short sword on hand," Naruto said, handing the Oni mask he recovered from the Uzushiogakure ruins. "Hermione, take my dagger and wear this," he said, handing his girlfriend his dagger he got from Jiraiya along with an anbu mask resembling a cat. "Ron, take the kukri along with the skull mask," Naruto finished, handing the redhead a skull mask and the Indian/Nepalese machete.
It was a good thing Naruto gave them weapons training during their time in the DA, otherwise they would've been screwed. "Alright remember take them out quietly and no magic, understand?" Naruto asked, as they all nod. "Let's go," he said and soon the four stuck to the fog and shadows. The Death Eaters patrolled the area looking for Harry and Naruto, as they scoured the entire town. Naruto sneaks up on one pair and silently beheads them before disappearing into the fog. Another pair went to investigate, when Harry sneaked up on one of them and quietly stabbed the Death Eater and before the other could react, the Death Eater fell down thanks to a poisoned throwing knife Naruto used. For Hermione, she hid behind an alleyway as a Death Eater was about to approach. That's when a distraction came in the nick of time and it was a cat that somehow jumped out into the street. But before the Death Eater could register what happened, Hermione immediately sneaked behind the Death Eater and stabbed the person in the neck repeatedly. For Ron, he tailed a Death Eater who was investigating the area. The Death Eater found a dead body with stab wounds and as the Death Eater was about to call for backup, the Death Eater got slashed in the back before getting his head chopped off.
The four soon regrouped, but eventually things took a turn for the worse as Dementors came. "Expecto Patronum!" they all shouted, releasing their respective Patronuses as they repel the Dementors. However a Death Eater had noticed them and shouted for some allies, but luckily the doors opened quickly as an old man came out. "Get inside quickly!" the old man shouted and the four did as told, hiding away from the Death Eaters. Once they all hid inside, the old man bartered with the Death Eaters and soon the Death Eaters left, albeit they were pissed off by the chance of not getting the people they were after. The old man comes to the group, as the four thanked him. "You four are a bunch of fools, you know that. What in the bloody hell were you thinking, coming in here?" the old man asked. "Sorry sir, we have nowhere else to go, but we appreciate you letting us in here," Hermione stated. The old man grunted, but waved it off nonetheless as he prepared four tankards of butterbeer.
"Drink up, you'll need it after what just happened," the old man stated, as the four nodded. Silence filled the room until Harry asked the old man to clarify something. "You're Aberforth, aren't you?" Harry asked, as the others looked at him. The old man sighed and didn't say anything, but he nodded without a word. "I saw you at Dumbledore's funeral, heck I swear I've seen a picture of you two together," Naruto stated. "That was a long time ago, kid. Dumbledore may be my blood brother, but he is no brother of mine, not after what happened when we were only children," Aberforth stated coldly.
Naruto wanted to ask more, but he dropped it as he didn't want to overstep his boundaries. Aberforth sighed, "Look kid, I'm not angry at you and your friends. It's just that what is between me and Albus is personal and I don't want to rope you in on this," he said. "Right, anyways we need help getting into the castle as we believe You-Know-Who is hiding a Horcrux there. I was wondering if you could help," Harry asked. "Why should I help, if anything you kids need to be out of here and fast," Aberforth stated. "You don't understand, Dumbledore gave me a task to complete and I need to do so as he is relying on us four," Harry stated. Aberforth scoffed and thought otherwise as it was clear that the old man held animosity towards his deceased brother. Soon the two were having an argument about completing Dumbledore's task, as it seems that Aberforth wasn't interested in helping.
"Aberforth, I know about what happened to your sister, Ariana. She was bullied by three muggle boys just for using magic and she was scared to the point she can't control her magic. I know she was accidently killed in a three way duel between you, your brother, and Grindelwald. I get that you're angry at your brother and I don't blame you for thinking that way," Naruto said sympathetically. "How do you know about this?" Aberforth asked. "Grindelwald's journal, it had everything including the mention of that fateful day. I also know you once had a son, Credence Barebone or rather Aurelius Dumbledore and you lost him as well. Look I understand if you don't want to help in the fight, believe me I do, but all we're asking is if you could help us get into the castle. It's okay if you don't want to, we'll leave you in peace and find our own way into the castle tomorrow, but if you can help us right now, it would be most appreciated," Naruto said. Aberforth was quiet until he sighed and looked at the four. "You can come out now Dobby," he said and soon Dobby arrived. The friendly house-elf looked the same as he smiled at the group. "Master Harry Potter and friends, it is good to see you," Dobby said enthusiastically. "Dobby, it's great to see you as well. Listen, I want you to give these messages to the Order of the Phoenix. It's time we take back Hogwarts," Harry said, handing some messages. "Certainly sir, Dobby will not disappoint, sir," Dobby stated, before vanishing. Soon Aberforth led the four to the portrait of Ariana Dumbledore, who smiled at them.
"You know what to do?" he asked, as the portrait nodded before turning around and walking away. Aberforth explains to them that this was the only passageway as the others have been covered, patrolled regularly, along with Dementors stalking the boundary walls. Ariana comes back, but she wasn't alone as someone else was with her. The portrait passageway opens revealing an entrance tunnel and out of the tunnel comes an unexpected but welcomed guest. It was Neville Longbottom, as he appears to have grown a bit but also looked a little worse for wear. Neville smiled at them, "I knew you guys would come. Oh and before you ask me about what happened, don't worry about it. Seamus had worse, but anyways come on we have a school to save," Neville said, as they all nodded. "Thank you, Aberforth," Harry said. Aberforth waved it off, "It's fine, best you lot get going now," he said. They nodded and entered the passageway, ready to begin their return to Hogwarts.