As Black As Black
Chapter Two, Essence of Aberforth
The morning sunshine was always pleasant to Harry's eyes. He loved how the golden rays flowed over everything almost as if it were water. Harry loved how he would wake up early in the morning, and he could watch the sun creep slowly over the horizon. It helped him take his mind off his troubles, and Harry was always open to forgetting about his troubles. When the sun was coming up in the sky, Harry was left at peace, which was not at all common these days.
The day Hagrid came to Harry and told him that he was a wizard was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, Harry was left with a nearly all year round escape from the Dursleys, he had met the best friends he could ever know, and had finally learned something about his family. On the other he was exposed to the nightmares that his parents had died to keep him from seeing. Harry had been forced to forsake much of his childhood. Not that this was much different from what he had lost and the hands of the Dursleys, and that indeed the blessing far outweighed the curses, Harry was still sometimes unsure if he would have been better off living life as a muggle.
Ignoring the unpleasant thoughts that had somehow crept into his head, Harry turned his attention back to the golden sunshine washing all over the room. As Harry thoughts fell to peace, he remembered something that only set his thoughts off with emotions again.
Today was August 15th, and today, he would be going to the Burrow. Harry was ecstatic.
Upon remembering the news that he had gotten only three days before, Harry sprang out of bed and began to dress himself in fresh clothes. Knowing he would be un-allowed to take a shower, Harry thought that it would be best if he just rushed to get ready so that the Weasleys would not be forced to wait for him when they arrived. As Harry looked about his room he quickly found all of his school materials that he had thrown about in the process of doing his holiday assignments, and gathered them all near his trunk as he prepared to try and stuff them all in. However, when Harry opened his trunk to begin to back something caught his eye. As he reached down and pulled out a piece of parchment, he saw that he had totally forgot the issue of the Daily Prophet he had stuffed in here only three days before. Distracted, he took the bundle of parchment to his desk, where he found his glasses and undid the bundle so that he could read the wizarding paper.
As Harry looked over the titles on the first page nothing seemed to catch his eye. Soon he found himself fumbling about through the paper, looking to see if he could find anything interesting at all. He had almost lost hope on the paper when he turned to the final page and noticed a small article with a very interesting heading.
Aberforth Dumbledore, Family Outcast, or Noble Man?
If you are a common reader of the Daily Prophet, you are well aware of this strange man for his rather crude use of charms on certain creatures, as he has been discussed in countless articles of this paper. However have all of those accounts been incorrect? Recent acts on the part of this man would lead us all to believe that a terrible slander had been conducted here.
First however, lets recount recent events that we are in referral to here. Last Monday, on an August 10th, there was an attack by wizards unknown (at the time) upon the muggle office of Prime Minister in Britain. Through the efforts of the Prime Minister Secret Service however, the attack was diverted, and hushed up rather well by the time Ministry Oblivators arrived. This had made it extremely easy for the Ministry to erase the memory of the entire incident before any large number of muggles found out about the issue.
However, the identity of the attackers was left a mystery until the previously mentioned Aberforth handed in a report to the ministry. The report, given orally by Aberforth himself, revealed that the wizard responsible had been captured at the Hogs Head in Hogsmade early that morning, and had admitted to the guilt of the crime under the influence of Veritaserum. Though the Ministry showed displease with the illegal use of the powerful truth serum, it was determined that the man Aberforth had captured was indeed the man that had carried out the crime. Though the identity of the culprit has not been released it has only been mentioned that the suspect was under the influence of the Imperious Curse at the time. Who was behind that is still unknown.
If it had not been for Aberforth, the man would have gone unnoticed, and we would not be aware of the even larger crime that had been committed by casting one of the Unforgivable Curses. The suspect is currently being treated for shock, curse reversal, and Veritaserum overdose at St. Mungo's magic hospital. So we are lead to believe that Aberforth may have been a noble citizen, a not the man he had been painted to be in public media. However, there still is the mystery about Aberforth's work with goats.
Harry read the article to himself a few times not really sure what to make of it. As it is, Harry had only rarely talks about Professor Dumbledore's strange brother. He had only heard little about the man, and to Harry Aberforth was mostly a total mystery. Harry remembered from the picture he had seen of the man nearly a year before, that he looked much like Dumbledore, and Harry knew that he had been part of the original Order of the Phoenix. Harry wasn't sure if he was a member now however. Harry still found it strange however that Aberforth would have been the one to capture the mind controlled suspect. From what Harry had learned of Aberforth he had always been a clumsy, outcaste man. Strange that he would suddenly do something that would land him in the papers, breaking with his pervious suddenness. It was all very strange to Harry but perhaps he was thinking a bit too much about it. He would be sure to ask Hermione about it later. Perhaps she knew something more about this man that he did not.
Throwing the paper back into his trunk, Harry quickly ran around his small room gathering what other few possessions he had to he could finish packing. As one might have been able to guess, it didn't take Harry long at all to do this. Soon Harry was on his way down the stairs for the morning meal, which he was sure would not be much more the scraps.
As Harry sat down at the table he smiled to himself lost in thought about his time he will spend with his best friends while away from the remainder of the summer holiday. He had become so happy about leaving that he had even forgot about his most recent hardships. In fact he was so happy, and smiling so broadly that the Dursleys couldn't help but notice.
"What are you so gitty about there boy?" Vernon demanded after only a few moments of Harry obvious happiness. As he spoke he seemed extremely annoyed as if Harry's being happy was greatly cramping his style. As Harry heard this he gasped, suddenly aware that he had forgotten to tell his 'guardians' of is departure in a few hours.
"Oh! I forgot to tell you.I will be leaving you all in a few hours till next summer." Harry said, as his smile seemed to grow even more sizeable.
"Leaving?" Vernon asked, astonished. As he thought about it more, a look of horror came across his plum purple face.
"How are you leaving?" He asked, horror about in his eyes.
"Oh," Harry said, smiling broadly. "My friends father is coming to pick me up. You have met him before, Author Weasley?"
Aunt Petunia uttered a small gasp as uncle Vernon's face began to swell to the size of a watermelon. The look of fear in their eyes gave Harry a sadistic kind of pleasure. He loved it when they would squirm before him. It made him feel a lot better about the way they treated him, to know that in the end he had the final say on them.
"They can't." Vernon said.
"What?" Harry asked, almost amused at the proposition.
"Will all the clatter they make, absolutely not. Out of the question that it." Vernon yelled, his purple face slowly turning red as he shouted.
"You can calm down." Harry laughed, "he is coming by car this time."
"Car?" Vernon shouted, "You mean the infernal flying contraption that came to get you all those years back?"
Harry laughed again. Vernon as twitching now and it looked as if Dudley was about to have a heart attack. Harry's aunt was dead silent with fear. Harry smiled at all the chaos he caused, in his mind laughing like crazy. This was Harry's payback for all those years of torment, and he was enjoying it.
"Not at all." Harry smiled, "They will be coming by normal, non flying cars."
Vernon ran over to his wife as she fainted on the floor. Dudley in similar fashion also fell to the floor, also dead to the world with fear. This caused Harry to burst out laughing. He couldn't control it any more. Giggles spilled forth from him like a tidal wave. Vernon tried to revive his wife and son but nothing he could o would bring them to. Harry thought it was to funny that Dudley, the bully of the town was on the floor, fainted with fear.
"Leave them be." Harry said between giggled, "They will come to in a moment or so. Well anyways, I will be going upstairs. I have a few more preparations to carry through before they arrive. It's a pity really, I thought you would all be overjoyed to be rid of me."
At that Harry walked up the stairs and out of site of the rest of the Dursleys. As Harry got to the top of the steps and entered his room, a sense of joy fell upon him. Seeing the Dursleys squirm had him forget about his own torments, and Harry liked the sudden change in emotion. Harry almost hummed to himself as he fumbled about in his room looking to find anything else that he would need to bring along with him.
The doorbell rang at about noon that day. And then it rang again.and again.and again in a rather annoying fashion. Harry knew almost instantly that it was a Weasley who rang the doorbell, as only they or any other wizard knew little enough about muggle inventions such as the doorbell, to use it improperly.
Harry had been proven right to. As Uncle Vernon opened the door, there was Ron, again pressing the doorbell. He had gotten slightly taller, and his voice sounded a bit deeper as he spoke.
"Oh hello. Umm, is Harry ready to go?" Ron asked, trying to sound like he knew exactly what to say. Ron had not commonly upheld conversation with muggles, so he wasn't really sure what to say to one.
Uncle Vernon merely pointed up the stairs and shooed Ron in leaving the door open. Ron rushed up the stairs and stood outside Harry's door in moments. Of course Harry was aware of this, as he had heard Ron's footsteps coming up the stairs. Ron knocked in moments.
"Harry?" Ron asked as he knocked on the door a few times. The proximity of the noise stirred Hedwig in her sleep. Harry found it strange that the doorbell wouldn't wake her up, but knocking would.
"Hello Ron, come in!" Harry said feeling rather happy about how things were going. Though it would only be for a little more then a week, Harry would be at his best friend's house, and away from the Dursleys for a whole another year.
Ron came in quickly, not needing to be invited again. Ron was all smiles and he ran in. He wore a muggle set of cloths jeans and a striped shirt.
"Hello Harry. Good to see you again." Ron said, through a grin.
"Yes, you too Ron." Harry said as he picked up Hedwig's cage, "Now, help me pull this trunk downstairs, so we can get out of here!"
And So, Harry and Ron began to pull Harry's trunk down, making a lot of noise as they did.
Chapter Two, Essence of Aberforth
The morning sunshine was always pleasant to Harry's eyes. He loved how the golden rays flowed over everything almost as if it were water. Harry loved how he would wake up early in the morning, and he could watch the sun creep slowly over the horizon. It helped him take his mind off his troubles, and Harry was always open to forgetting about his troubles. When the sun was coming up in the sky, Harry was left at peace, which was not at all common these days.
The day Hagrid came to Harry and told him that he was a wizard was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, Harry was left with a nearly all year round escape from the Dursleys, he had met the best friends he could ever know, and had finally learned something about his family. On the other he was exposed to the nightmares that his parents had died to keep him from seeing. Harry had been forced to forsake much of his childhood. Not that this was much different from what he had lost and the hands of the Dursleys, and that indeed the blessing far outweighed the curses, Harry was still sometimes unsure if he would have been better off living life as a muggle.
Ignoring the unpleasant thoughts that had somehow crept into his head, Harry turned his attention back to the golden sunshine washing all over the room. As Harry thoughts fell to peace, he remembered something that only set his thoughts off with emotions again.
Today was August 15th, and today, he would be going to the Burrow. Harry was ecstatic.
Upon remembering the news that he had gotten only three days before, Harry sprang out of bed and began to dress himself in fresh clothes. Knowing he would be un-allowed to take a shower, Harry thought that it would be best if he just rushed to get ready so that the Weasleys would not be forced to wait for him when they arrived. As Harry looked about his room he quickly found all of his school materials that he had thrown about in the process of doing his holiday assignments, and gathered them all near his trunk as he prepared to try and stuff them all in. However, when Harry opened his trunk to begin to back something caught his eye. As he reached down and pulled out a piece of parchment, he saw that he had totally forgot the issue of the Daily Prophet he had stuffed in here only three days before. Distracted, he took the bundle of parchment to his desk, where he found his glasses and undid the bundle so that he could read the wizarding paper.
As Harry looked over the titles on the first page nothing seemed to catch his eye. Soon he found himself fumbling about through the paper, looking to see if he could find anything interesting at all. He had almost lost hope on the paper when he turned to the final page and noticed a small article with a very interesting heading.
Aberforth Dumbledore, Family Outcast, or Noble Man?
If you are a common reader of the Daily Prophet, you are well aware of this strange man for his rather crude use of charms on certain creatures, as he has been discussed in countless articles of this paper. However have all of those accounts been incorrect? Recent acts on the part of this man would lead us all to believe that a terrible slander had been conducted here.
First however, lets recount recent events that we are in referral to here. Last Monday, on an August 10th, there was an attack by wizards unknown (at the time) upon the muggle office of Prime Minister in Britain. Through the efforts of the Prime Minister Secret Service however, the attack was diverted, and hushed up rather well by the time Ministry Oblivators arrived. This had made it extremely easy for the Ministry to erase the memory of the entire incident before any large number of muggles found out about the issue.
However, the identity of the attackers was left a mystery until the previously mentioned Aberforth handed in a report to the ministry. The report, given orally by Aberforth himself, revealed that the wizard responsible had been captured at the Hogs Head in Hogsmade early that morning, and had admitted to the guilt of the crime under the influence of Veritaserum. Though the Ministry showed displease with the illegal use of the powerful truth serum, it was determined that the man Aberforth had captured was indeed the man that had carried out the crime. Though the identity of the culprit has not been released it has only been mentioned that the suspect was under the influence of the Imperious Curse at the time. Who was behind that is still unknown.
If it had not been for Aberforth, the man would have gone unnoticed, and we would not be aware of the even larger crime that had been committed by casting one of the Unforgivable Curses. The suspect is currently being treated for shock, curse reversal, and Veritaserum overdose at St. Mungo's magic hospital. So we are lead to believe that Aberforth may have been a noble citizen, a not the man he had been painted to be in public media. However, there still is the mystery about Aberforth's work with goats.
Harry read the article to himself a few times not really sure what to make of it. As it is, Harry had only rarely talks about Professor Dumbledore's strange brother. He had only heard little about the man, and to Harry Aberforth was mostly a total mystery. Harry remembered from the picture he had seen of the man nearly a year before, that he looked much like Dumbledore, and Harry knew that he had been part of the original Order of the Phoenix. Harry wasn't sure if he was a member now however. Harry still found it strange however that Aberforth would have been the one to capture the mind controlled suspect. From what Harry had learned of Aberforth he had always been a clumsy, outcaste man. Strange that he would suddenly do something that would land him in the papers, breaking with his pervious suddenness. It was all very strange to Harry but perhaps he was thinking a bit too much about it. He would be sure to ask Hermione about it later. Perhaps she knew something more about this man that he did not.
Throwing the paper back into his trunk, Harry quickly ran around his small room gathering what other few possessions he had to he could finish packing. As one might have been able to guess, it didn't take Harry long at all to do this. Soon Harry was on his way down the stairs for the morning meal, which he was sure would not be much more the scraps.
As Harry sat down at the table he smiled to himself lost in thought about his time he will spend with his best friends while away from the remainder of the summer holiday. He had become so happy about leaving that he had even forgot about his most recent hardships. In fact he was so happy, and smiling so broadly that the Dursleys couldn't help but notice.
"What are you so gitty about there boy?" Vernon demanded after only a few moments of Harry obvious happiness. As he spoke he seemed extremely annoyed as if Harry's being happy was greatly cramping his style. As Harry heard this he gasped, suddenly aware that he had forgotten to tell his 'guardians' of is departure in a few hours.
"Oh! I forgot to tell you.I will be leaving you all in a few hours till next summer." Harry said, as his smile seemed to grow even more sizeable.
"Leaving?" Vernon asked, astonished. As he thought about it more, a look of horror came across his plum purple face.
"How are you leaving?" He asked, horror about in his eyes.
"Oh," Harry said, smiling broadly. "My friends father is coming to pick me up. You have met him before, Author Weasley?"
Aunt Petunia uttered a small gasp as uncle Vernon's face began to swell to the size of a watermelon. The look of fear in their eyes gave Harry a sadistic kind of pleasure. He loved it when they would squirm before him. It made him feel a lot better about the way they treated him, to know that in the end he had the final say on them.
"They can't." Vernon said.
"What?" Harry asked, almost amused at the proposition.
"Will all the clatter they make, absolutely not. Out of the question that it." Vernon yelled, his purple face slowly turning red as he shouted.
"You can calm down." Harry laughed, "he is coming by car this time."
"Car?" Vernon shouted, "You mean the infernal flying contraption that came to get you all those years back?"
Harry laughed again. Vernon as twitching now and it looked as if Dudley was about to have a heart attack. Harry's aunt was dead silent with fear. Harry smiled at all the chaos he caused, in his mind laughing like crazy. This was Harry's payback for all those years of torment, and he was enjoying it.
"Not at all." Harry smiled, "They will be coming by normal, non flying cars."
Vernon ran over to his wife as she fainted on the floor. Dudley in similar fashion also fell to the floor, also dead to the world with fear. This caused Harry to burst out laughing. He couldn't control it any more. Giggles spilled forth from him like a tidal wave. Vernon tried to revive his wife and son but nothing he could o would bring them to. Harry thought it was to funny that Dudley, the bully of the town was on the floor, fainted with fear.
"Leave them be." Harry said between giggled, "They will come to in a moment or so. Well anyways, I will be going upstairs. I have a few more preparations to carry through before they arrive. It's a pity really, I thought you would all be overjoyed to be rid of me."
At that Harry walked up the stairs and out of site of the rest of the Dursleys. As Harry got to the top of the steps and entered his room, a sense of joy fell upon him. Seeing the Dursleys squirm had him forget about his own torments, and Harry liked the sudden change in emotion. Harry almost hummed to himself as he fumbled about in his room looking to find anything else that he would need to bring along with him.
The doorbell rang at about noon that day. And then it rang again.and again.and again in a rather annoying fashion. Harry knew almost instantly that it was a Weasley who rang the doorbell, as only they or any other wizard knew little enough about muggle inventions such as the doorbell, to use it improperly.
Harry had been proven right to. As Uncle Vernon opened the door, there was Ron, again pressing the doorbell. He had gotten slightly taller, and his voice sounded a bit deeper as he spoke.
"Oh hello. Umm, is Harry ready to go?" Ron asked, trying to sound like he knew exactly what to say. Ron had not commonly upheld conversation with muggles, so he wasn't really sure what to say to one.
Uncle Vernon merely pointed up the stairs and shooed Ron in leaving the door open. Ron rushed up the stairs and stood outside Harry's door in moments. Of course Harry was aware of this, as he had heard Ron's footsteps coming up the stairs. Ron knocked in moments.
"Harry?" Ron asked as he knocked on the door a few times. The proximity of the noise stirred Hedwig in her sleep. Harry found it strange that the doorbell wouldn't wake her up, but knocking would.
"Hello Ron, come in!" Harry said feeling rather happy about how things were going. Though it would only be for a little more then a week, Harry would be at his best friend's house, and away from the Dursleys for a whole another year.
Ron came in quickly, not needing to be invited again. Ron was all smiles and he ran in. He wore a muggle set of cloths jeans and a striped shirt.
"Hello Harry. Good to see you again." Ron said, through a grin.
"Yes, you too Ron." Harry said as he picked up Hedwig's cage, "Now, help me pull this trunk downstairs, so we can get out of here!"
And So, Harry and Ron began to pull Harry's trunk down, making a lot of noise as they did.