Harry returned to Grimmauld place full of excitement over the memories in his possession. For the first time all summer he felt like he had finally found his path. He ran directly to his room and immediately a smile widened on his face. McGonnagall had not let him down. On his night stand sat the pensieve left to him by Dumbledore. He stared almost in awe at the memories he had removed from his pockets. His mind was racing to decide which one to view first. He chose the first one Aberforth gave to him. In his hands was the reason Dumbledore took the path that led to the defeat of Grindewald. Harry poured the memory into the pensieve and dipped his head in.

Harry found himself inside of Honeyduke's. He could tell they were about to close. There was a man working the counter that he did not recognize at first. The man was tall with red hair and a neatly trimmed goatee. At first Harry wondered if the man could be related to the Weasleys. A voice from somewhere in the back of the store answered the questions for him. "Albus," cried the voice, "I'll finish up. You run along to your family. I mean it is your birthday and I bet that wonderful wife of yours has supper waiting." "Thank you Mr. Honeyduke. I appreciate that" replied the young Albus Dumbledore. Harry allowed himself to get closer to the man he would one day know. Now that he knew his identity he saw the face he admired so much. The lines that worry and age had placed around his eyes were gone. There was a spring in his step that told the world he was young and in love. As Harry looked he saw the one thing that would prove to him that it was the same Albus Dumbledore. He saw that mischievous grin. The same one a little boy gets when he is caught doing something wrong.

Harry followed Dumbledore into a nearby shop. They were only in there long enough for Albus to pick up a package for his wife. Once outside the shop Dumbledore appearated. Harry had never appearated in a memory before and found the experience odd. It was as if the world around him completely disappeared for a moment and suddenly returned. When things came back into focus he turned toward the future headmaster. There was a look of horror on Albus Dumbledore's face. Turning his gaze to the house in front of him, Harry suddenly understood why. Smoke was flowing from the windows. The home was nearly demolished. Dumbledore rushed toward the wreckage. "Adonna, Adonna," he cried. "Adonna can you hear me?" He was searching for his wife and Harry knew it. Harry stood transfixed on the image of his mentor looking so vulnerable. He stretched his arms out, desprately wanting to help his friend. Just as it hit Harry that he could not help, Dumbledore's search ended. In the debris of what Harry took to have been the living room, Albus Dumbledore found the crumpled form of his wife. Harry tried to resist the urge to get closer but the need to find out why this had happened overwhelmed him. Lying next to Adonna's body was a set of knitting needles and some wool. It appeared as though she was hand knitting her husband a pair of socks for his birthday. Beneath the half finished socks was a note. It read:

Dearest Albus,

Twice I have asked you to join me. Twice you have refused. I now give to you one more chance. Join me or join your wife.

GW

With this Harry left the memory. He knew that GW was Grindewald. This is why Dumbledore hated the Dark Arts so. Harry wept. The young wizard sat with his head upon his hands for several minutes before even allowing himself to look up. He understood now. At this moment he felt closer to Albus Dumbledore than he had in his entire life. A renewed feeling of resolve swept over him. He knew that he had to stop the war soon. Reaching for the bed table, he grabbed the second vial. This one contained Aberforth' memory.

Harry was in a wide chamber. It was brightly lit with long white candles. This room was easily as big as the Great Hall. There were two people in the center of the room. He only vaguely recognized one of the men from the first memory he had watched. The man was unshaven. His hair was beginning to gray and had grown extremely long. He looked as though he had not smiled in years. Worry and age shown vibrantly on his face. Otherwise however, he looked to be in better shape than anyone Harry had ever seen. The determination in his face and the muscular physique told the world he was preparing for something important. "That must be Aberforth beside him." Thought Harry. Once he got close enough to hear the men all of his suspicions were proven correct.

"Are you ready, Albus?" asked the well groomed wizard. "Is that a question you really feel you must ask, Aberforth?" came the reply. "Remember," started Albus "no bowing just start dueling. There will be no pleasantries when I meet Gridewald. With that said Aberforth through the first curse. The duel was faster than anything Harry had ever witnessed. They were throwing spells at eachother that definitely were not standard Hogwart's spells. They yelled their spells aloud, flashing their wands like swords in front of them. Harry payed closer attention to Albus. His spellwork was amazing. He seemed to disappear and reappear at will. It was not apparition, he simlply vanished and popped back up. After several minutes it was over. Aberforth Dumbledore lay on the ground unconscious. His brother woke him up. "What was that about, Albus?" was the first thing out of his mouth. "What was what about dear brother?" was the reply. "You kept saying your spells aloud. That's why I was able to block nearly everything you through." "Well," Albus began to explain. "I wanted this to last as long as possible. I thought it would give you a better chance." "Okay, I'll give you that. But how were you able to block my nonverbal spells so easily. I had my mind closed so I knew you were not using occulemency. And where did you learn to transport yourself like that? That was amazing." Albus considered his brothers questions for a moment before answering. "Your wand movements gave away the nonverbal spells. As far as the instant teleportation goes, I'll show you." he said with a smile. To Harry's amazement, Albus began to show Aberforth how to do everything he just did.

Harry replied the memory several times. Eventually he was mimicking Albus's every movement. He paid close attention everything the brothers spoke about. Harry knew it would take awhile, but he had found a way for Dumbledore to teach him to duel. It was several hours later when he decided he should take a break. Looking out the window he was surprised to see the morning sun rising. He had trained all night. Harry laid on his bed to reflect on his training. In the memory Albus was trying to teach his brother how to use his magic without his wand. He explained to Aberforth that true magical ability come from inside and that a wand was just a tool used to help focus that magic. Albus had been working on focusing the magic within himself with only his thoughts and seemed to have some success. Harry on the other hand was not having success at all. He had begun to catch on to non-verbal spells and occlumency. However wandless magic seemed impossible. His mind was racing with these thoughts when sleep finally overtook the young wizard.

It was well past nightfall when Harry woke. He heard a meeting of the order going on downstairs in the dining room. Once the voices died down he decided to sneak downstairs for a quick bite. True it was his home and normally he would have sat in on the meeting, but at this moment the memories in his room seemed more important. He was finally preparing himself for his destiny. After a quick meal, Harry went back to his room to resume his training within the pensieve. Mentally he began to prepare himself to resume training in Aberforth's memory. "On second thought," he said to himself. "I haven't looked at the memory Dumbledore gave to Mad-Eye yet." With this thought he grabbed the vial and poured it into the silvery liquid.

Harry could not have been more surprised at his surroundings. He had expected more training, maybe even a huge battle. The irony of what he saw made him smile. This was definitely Dumbledore's way of being funny. Dumbledore had given Mad-Eye Moody the memories he had of a party. At least, Harry thought it was a party at first. Once he had gotten over the irony, he noticed the decorations and the way people were dressed. Everyone was in their best dress robes. It appeared as though there was one muggle family there, as they were dressed in their church best. The youngest of the muggles looked very familiar. It then hit him. He was at a wedding, his parents wedding. The young muggle was his Aunt Petunia. "That means those are my grandparents" he thought to himself. Surveying the crowd he saw many faces he would later know. Minerva, Hagrid, Mad-Eye, and of course Dumbledore all stood out to him. Harry was paying so much attention to the crowd that he hadn't glanced at the front of the festivities. Finally he looked up. There standing before everyone was a very young and very handsome Sirius Black. He looked at the other groomsmen and recognized them as Remus and Peter. More important than these three Marauders, however, was the man standing to Sirius's immediate right. He couldn't have been much older than Harry. Three to four years tops, but he was Harry's mirror reflection. Except his eyes. It was his father. James Potter looked nervous. He also looked like he had tried to get his hair to lay flat with generous amounts of muggle hair gel. Harry was laughing when the music began.

Harry noticed everyone had turned there attention to the end of the isle. His mother was making her entrance. She was wearing a set of beautiful white dress robes that looked very similar to a muggle wedding dress. An expensive muggle wedding dress. Her long red hair was flowing in the wind. For just one moment, Harry let his mind wonder to another red head he knew. He imagined how Ginny would look in that dress. He snapped himself back into the moment. He wanted to watch this. He looked up at his father. James's chest swelled with pride. He no longer seemed nervous. Harry saw Sirius playfully elbow his father. Sirius was smiling ear to ear trying to whisper something in the groom's ear. James payed no attention to his best friend. He was busy.

It was the most beautiful thing Harry had ever witnessed. Standing beside his father as his parents got married, he realized how important love really is. Too soon, his parents were enjoying their first kiss as husband and wife. Albus sent white doves flying into the air from his wand as Sirius and Remus both howled (literally howled thought Harry) in delight. Harry was afraid the memory was about to end. He was very pleased to see it was going to continue. The guest began filing out to the reception. Harry tried to keep in sight of Dumbledore while staying as near to his parents as he could. Eventually he knew he had to go with the other guests. They all awaited the newlyweds eagerly. When James and Lilly Potter entered the room they were greeted with a standing ovation. The party went on for a very long time. Harry spent most of his time watching his mother and the Marauders. Near the end of the memory, the Marauders approached Dumbledore. "Thank you for being here, Albus." began James. "This was truly a pleasure, James. In dark times like these there can never be enough love." replied Albus. "Yes, Albus." Now it was Remus speaking. "We wanted to speak to you about the war." "Gentlemen, today is a day for celebration. Not war." said Dumbledore. However he knew by the look on the four friends faces this was not going to wait. "Fine what can I do for you?" Sirius took the mantle of spokesmen and began. "We all want to join the order." "All four of you?" asked Albus, looking at Peter. "Yes, all of us" said Peter defiantly. "Very well. I trust you all. And you are welcome to help." Dumbledore stated with a smile. His smile quickly became a grin as he said. "Now, James, I do believe there is a cake to cut."

Harry emerged from the memory happier than he had ever been. He also had one clear thought in his head. Ginny. "It was a mistake to run from her." he thought, "but not a mistake I can't fix." His thoughts however were interrupted by a knock on his bedroom door. It was Remus. "Harry, may I come in?" "Absolutely, Mooney. What can I do for you?" Harry asked his friend. Mooney sighed heavily. "Harry, I know where the next memory is. It's in Godric's Hollow."