Harry suddenly felt a great sense of adventure overtake him. He opened the door to of the headmistress's office and ran down the spiraling staircase. As the gargoyle jumped aside, Harry jumped out of the stairs nearly knocking over a waiting Professor McGonnagall. "Harry," she said startled. "where are you off to so quickly?" "I'm sorry, Professor, but I've no time to explain." He panted. "Albus's portrait will fill you in." With that Harry took off at a jog towards the entrance hall. It was then he remembered he was supposed to meet his friends at the Burrow. Abruptly he turned around and called to the Headmistress. "Minerva, could you send word to the Burrow for me that I may not be there today?" McGonnagall knew that it was no use to ask the young man why. "Of course I will, Potter, of course." The two turned and parted ways. Miverva to speak with Dumbledore's portrait, Harry to find out who the bartender is.
Harry quickly made his way to the front gates. As soon as he was outside the school grounds he disappearated to the Hog's Head. When he opened the door and looked around, he realized that almost nothing had changed since he came here in his fifth year. The only real difference in Harry's mind was that more dust had collected over the years. Light from outside flooded the pub. The entire place seemed deserted except for the bartender, who was wiping a dirty glass with a dirty towel. "Good," thought Harry. "No one to bother me." He approached the familiar looking figure behind the bar. The old wizard barely looked up, "What can I do for you?" Harry cleared his throat. "I collect chocolate frog cards." "Do you now?" Came the reply. "I do too. In fact," the man continued, "first one I ever got was Albus Dumbledore." Harry was surprised to see the man look up at him and smile. "Well," he said, "I know your name, Harry, I guess I should introduce myself." Harry subconsciously held his breath. "My name is Aberforth Dumbledore."
Harry's mind was reeling. He stared at the man in awe. Suddenly it occurred to Harry why the man was familiar. When Harry had met the DA for the first time in the Hog's Head was the first time he had laid eyes on the familiar looking bartender. It was not, however, the first time he had seen the man. The first time he had seen him was in a picture of the original Order of the Phoenix that Mad-eye had shown to him. "So this is why the headmaster would sneak into town and have a drink here," thought Harry. Thinking more on it he remembered seeing the bartender at the funeral also. "Harry," said Aberforth gently. "I think we have things to discuss." Harry simply shook his head. He had hundreds of questions for the man in front of him, but unfortunately his voice seemed to not work again. "Give me just one moment, Harry, I need to lock up." With that Aberforth waved his wand at the door, locking it and turning the open sign so that it read close.
Aberforth got two butterbeers from behind the counter and made his way to a nearby table. "Well," he began, "are you going to join me?" Harry sat down across from Aberforth. "Harry, I have heard a great deal of you from Albus. Even now his imprint speads highly of you" The young man still sat staring in silence. "You know Mr. Potter, it will be a boring conversation indeed if you do not help with a least a small percentage of it." Harry's voice finally caught up with his mind. "Your brother's picture told me to come see you about some memories he left in your possession." Harry stated. "Right to the point, I see Harry." Said Aberforth with a smile. "I am going to give you one of Albus's memories and one of mine." Putting his wand to his temple Aberforth extracted a silver string from his mind and place it in a vial he pulled from his pocket. He pulled a second vial from another pocket in his robes. "My brother's memory will show you why he chose to fight evil. My memory will let you watch my brother begin his training, as I dueled him many times when we were younger. Well until it became to easy for him to defeat me." With this said Aberforth stood abruptly. "You had better go and get started Harry. There are many more places for you to visit with many more memories. This war must end Harry." There was a tear in the old man's eye. "The deaths must stop. Your next clue lies with Alastor Moody. Albus trusted him more than any man on earth." Harry started to leave, suddenly a burning question jumped to his mind. "Aberforth," he said before exiting, "Have you ever heard of someone with the initials R.A.B.?" "R.A.B.?" The old bartender pondered this for a second. "No Harry, I am afraid not." With this Harry turned and left for his next destination.
Harry left and immediately appearated to Grimmauld Place. He was hoping Mad-eye would be at headquarters. Unfortunately he was not so lucky. This is when it occurred to Harry that he had no idea how to find the former auror. Harry was so deep in thought about this that he did not notice the barn owl come in through an open window. He paid not attention to the bird as it landed on the table next to him. It wasn't until the owl began pecking at Harry's jeans that he took notice. The letter in its beak was addressed to him. It was a thin scribbled writing and contained a very simple message:
Potter,
The Leaky Cauldron. 5 minutes.
A.M.
"Well," thought Harry, "that simplifies that." Before leaving for the Leaky Cauldron, Harry took the memories he received from Aberforth and placed them in his room beside the pensieve. Without waiting another second, he appearated to meet Mad-Eye. The Leaky Cauldron was just as deserted as the last time Harry had been there. The bartender Tom normally greeted Harry with a toothy grin. Today, Tom stood in awe. "Daily Prophet must still be writing things about me," thought Harry. "Can I get you anything Mr. Potter?" asked Tom. "No, Tom, thank you." Harry began. " I'm actually here to meet..." Suddenly a growling voice interrupted him. "Potter." Mad-eye Moody had entered.
Mad-Eye had Harry follow him into a private room in the back of the bar. Harry had not had many conversations with the auror and really did not know where to begin. Just as he was about to speak, Mad-Eye took the initiative. "No time for small talk, Potter. You never know when you might be interrupted." Moody looked at the door as he said this. Almost as though he expected someone to really walk-in at any second. Immediately Moody took out a smile glass vile. "Here," he said. "I don't know what's on it. I wouldn't let Dumbledoor tell me in case I was ever taken by Death Eaters." Harry nodded his head. He was about to ask the older wizard if this was the last memory or if there was another somewhere. Once again Alastor Moody spoke before Harry had a chance to. "I don't know how many more there are. But if you just go back to Grimmauld Place I think the next one will find you. I wouldn't let Dumbledoor tell me its location either. Alastor Moody stood up to walk out the door. He stopped in the entranceway and turned toward Harry. "Constant vigilance, Potter" he said. And with that, before Harry had said one word in the conversation, Mad-Eye Moody was gone.
