Harry flew into a ton of nothingness. He swirled and swirled long after he was sure he would vomit. Blackness…it was all he could see. Darkness… it was night that never ended. Yet it wasn't as calm as night could be. It was horrible… and yet, it was all black. There was a sense of eeriness about the swirling and blackness that encouraged all fear and lived off of terror.

And then he stopped. Harry stood there, in pitch blackness, waiting for something, though nothing came. However, he had no sooner gained a slight feeling of relief when he dropped--and he kept on dropping.

Harry screamed, but no sound came out. He kept on falling, his heart thumping dramatically, ready to come out his mouth….

And an hour later, he was still falling.

And then he saw something.

It had a human form, from what he could tell, but it was glowing slightly. The whitish glow erupting from it became more pronounced as it neared him. They both were falling, but this… thing could walk and fall at the same time.

The thing, which Harry decided was a glowing human, just barely had an auburn beard and eyes that reminded Harry of Dumbledore, except they didn't have the same kind of twinkle. Wearing robes of green and looking around twenty, he walked up to Harry, and held out his hand as they fell.

"Hello," he said. "Who are ya?"

Harry looked at him, not sure what was going on. "Er… Harry Potter."

"Nice to meet ya," the man said, grabbing Harry's hand and shaking it. He didn't look toward Harry's scar, and Harry was given the impression that he wasn't even trying not to. The man continued, "I'm Aberforth Dumbledore."

Harry gaped. "E-excuse me?"

"Aberforth Dumbledore," he repeated.

"Not…" Harry started. "not… not Albus Dumbledore's brother?"

"One and the same." Aberforth laughed at the look on Harry's face.

"How… how did you get here?" Harry asked, thankful he felt that his heart was where it should be. The feeling that his heart was in his throat had gone, but after learning this man's identity, it wouldn't have surprised him to find it back there again.

"Oh, well, I got into a lil' trouble with a hag. Said I didn't show her no proper respect. Sh, no 'proper respect'… I showed all the respect that ol' hag deserved, which, mind you, wasn't any at all, so maybe that was it….

"Anyway," Aberforth continued, "she said something funny, and a purple misty-like-thingy came out of her hands and ate me up! I've been here ever since."

"H… how long is that?" Harry asked, uncertain of how he would react to the question.

"Oh…" Aberforth thought a moment. "I'd say a good hundred and ten years or so."

"WHAT!" Harry asked, incredulous.

"Yep… see, no one wanted me to come out, 'cause o' some weird things I did, which weren't really weird, just… well, okay, maybe 'weird', but they didn't want me out, so I'm still here," Aberforth said.

Harry gaped at him. Would he be here one hundred and ten years? "You don't look a hundred and ten years old to me."

"Oh, well, I've noticed that everyone who comes 'round here stays the same age as when they got here, so if you were banished at two, ya'd stay that way. Ack… this one time, a two-year-old was banished here… dunno why… probably to shut it up, because dang it made a racket… could here it two hundred miles away…."

Harry couldn't help himself. It was really bugging him. "Er… you know you're glowing, right?"

"Oh, yeah. Took me forever to find out." He looked at Harry. "You know, yer glowin', too."

Harry looked down at himself for the first time. Indeed, he was glowing white, reminding himself of a ghost.

"Why are we glowing?"

Aberforth shook his head. "Eh, I dunno. Maybe to light the way… shh, it ain't done no lightin' fer me! Just been a nuisance, 'specially when that Kwuugart was sent in here…." He shivered.

"A… what?"

"A Kwuugart. Creature of the night. It could spring up on ya and eat ya and ya wouldn't know the difference. Nearly got me twice. Thankfully, ol' Freddy was 'round and got eaten 'stead o' me…"

Harry gulped and looked around, as though a Kwuugart might spring up on him at that very moment.

"Eh, no worries, word travels fast here. No Kwuugart's have been seen."

"H… how does word travel?"

"Well, with the silence most of the time, it's easy to hear a scream, even at the other end o' the realm, wherever that is…."

Harry gulped and dreaded the answer to his next question. "So… we can't get out of here?"

"Nope!" Aberforth said happily, which scared Harry a bit. "Not unless yer called for!"

"How do you get 'called for'?" Harry asked.

"Hm…" Aberforth thought a moment. "Well, I was talkin' to this guy… Peeves, was iz name? And then this big ol' portal opened up, like they do when some'un enters, and a girl walked in, grabbed 'im, and walked back out!"

"What did the girl look like?" Harry asked, eager for the answer.

"Ooh, I'd say 'bout 5"2, short black hair, wearing green robes, an'… oh, Peeves called her somethin', but I can't remember what it was…."

"Oh, please try and remember!" Harry pleaded. It sounded like Serenity, but a name would ensure her identity.

"Um… Georgie? No, no, that was Sam's lil' sister… er… Sheryl? No… Snape? No, that was the guy Peeves talked 'bout a bit… wait… Snape… er… yeah! Her name was Snape! Somethin' Snape! It was the guy's daughter or somethin' of the sort."

Harry sighed in relief. Surely, if Serenity would come to get Peeves, she'd come for him?

"Um… just one more question?" Harry asked.

Aberforth bounced with anticipation. "Fire 'way!"

"How did you control where you were going when you were falling?"

"Oh, well, ya see, you can do more than control where you fall, ya know. Takes a lotta, lotta self-control o' the mind and stuff. The guy 'at taught me was a genius, he was. Made it up himself. See, ya just gotta wanna stop. Or control how ya fall, whatever ya want. Look, I can even stop!"

And Aberforth disappeared.

"Up here!" Aberforth called.

Aberforth was growing smaller and smaller quicker than Harry thought anything could. Then, in a moment, he was back at Harry's side.

"See? Ya can stop, walk, fall, whatever ya like," Aberforth said.

"And… how do you do it, again?" Harry asked. Aberforth looked like he was about to stop. "No, no! I want the directions. Don't show me. Tell me."

"Well, like I said, ya just gotta wanna."

"I want to, believe me."

"Well, concentrate on it. It's hard the first time, 'cause ya keep worrin' 'bout the fallin' and all, but after the first time, ya can do it at will!"

Harry shut his eyes and focused solely on stopping. He thought he must look silly, but still kept on concentrating. He kept falling.

"It's not working!" Harry said, folding his arms together, fighting the wind telling him to lift them up.

"Well, then you weren't thinking' of just stopping'!" Aberforth said, looking at him sternly.

"I was too." But no sooner had he said this then he figured out the problem. Apparently, thinking that he would be looking silly counts as taking his focus off stopping.

Harry thought. Stop. Stop. I want to stop. Let me STOP!

And he stopped.

Aberforth appeared in front of him, not having stopped at the same time Harry did. "Ooh, congratulations! Now you can do it at will. It will be much easier."

He was right. Harry could walk on the endless black land, fall, control his falling, stop, and even go up, all at his very thought.

"Well, I'll be going now. Give me a call if you want to chat!" And he vanished, Harry figuring that he'd fallen some more.

Harry stood there, not sure what to do. What could he do? He could walk, fall, rise, and stop. That was about it. Harry started walking around the vast wasteland of nothingness.

Murmuring in the silence. It was just a whisper in the night at first, but it grew louder. A glowing red creature was approaching, at first a speck of red, then growing to become someone Harry was horrified to recognize.

Harry turned around and started running as fast as he could. Now was not the time to once again meet Salazar Slytherin.

"Who… who is that?" Salazar asked as he caught sight of Harry.

Harry didn't answer, but kept on running. Salazar flew after him faster than Harry could ever run in his lifetime.

"Well… my, my, Harry Potter… how I do remember you…. I was hoping to get the chance to finally kill you."

Harry's heart beat fast as he put his brain to work. He had to get away.

"Isn't that something?" Harry asked vaguely, still thinking.

"Yes… it is indeed… may I inquire as to how my newest nemesis got here?"

"A servant of your heir sent me here," Harry said, an idea suddenly popping into his head.

"Oh, which one? I'll have to tell him thank you when I am released from here."

"Bellatrix Lestrange, a woman," Harry said. "See ya round."

Harry fell and let the realm itself take him down. Salazar gave chase by his own power, but he quickly fell beyond Harry's vision. Harry stopped and ran to his right, if there was any direction in this place, and kept going until he was sure he'd lost Salazar.

And again he had no idea of what to do.

The only thing Harry could think of to do ten minutes later was think. The first thing that came to his mind was: Will someone ever come get me, or will I be stuck here forever like Aberforth? No, he mustn't think like that. Of course someone would get him… right?

The second thing Harry thought of was how he got here. What had become of Kelly, Ron, and Hermione? The Death Eaters? Had they gotten out all right? Personally, Harry didn't know how they could have, but tried to keep his hopes up.

And what was it Bellatrix had said? It wasn't what Serenity said to banish someone.

"Dark Lord, Banish Him!"

"Dark Warlord Banishes Thee!"

It sounded like Bellatrix was asking for the Dark Lord to banish him, while Serenity did the banishing herself. But… why? Harry mulled it over for hours, coming up with so many solutions, each more unlikely than the last. And then… he thought of it.

"Of course!" he whispered. Why hadn't he thought of it before? Bellatrix had to ask her master, Voldemort, to do the banishing, because she couldn't do it herself. Serenity, being Voldemort's heir, was born with the ability. That must be it!

Great, Harry thought to himself. Now what? He was out of things to think about.

The question was answered for him almost immediately.

Out of the sheer and utter darkness, a light erupted, just in front of him, making him temporarily blind. Shielding his face with his eyes, he stepped back several steps and turned around; he could see the light through his eyelids.

"Harry!" someone called.

Harry didn't turn around.

"HARRY!" they called again. "Harry, come here! We've gotta get you outta here!"

Harry turned around that time, afraid he'd go blind, but suddenly the light was very dim.

"Harry, come on! I've only got so much time before Serenity can't hold it anymore!" Kelly urged.

Harry ran toward her. She grabbed his hand, and together, they jumped through the light. The light went searing white, and then vanished behind them.