...
"The purpose of literature is to turn blood into ink."
T.S. Eliot
...


Harry's eyes went wide. He had never expected Batty's little accident to cause that much of a surprise. He didn't know what to say, so he nervously glanced towards Professor McGonagall. Her face was pale and her hands were shaking a little – though he couldn't tell whether it came from anger, shock or fear.

Hermione's mind on the other hand seemed to process all these pieces of information far better than Harry's.

"Oh my goodness! Professor McGonagall, Dan! I am - I mean – We – that is Harry and I are so very sorry for all this! I swear we didn't do it on purpose – especially considering that we now probably have to watch all the other remaining memories from all of you – so please believe me when I say how sor-"

"Hermione." Dan held up his hand to stop his niece from her ranting. "Calm down. There is no need to apologize, it was an accident. So everything is fine. I'm your godfather, and I really don't mind you two seeing my memories, and I'm pretty sure the Princess won't either." He pointed to the black haired witch on the Hospital bed. "On the contrary, all this gives you a great opportunity to get to know both of us more."

He smiled reassuringly at the two young magicians, both of them still holding one of his wife's hand.

"However," he continued thoughtfully, " I can only speak for myself – and maybe Arina. Minerva on the other hand…"

He glanced carefully at the emerald green eyed witch on the chair next to the hospital bed, and so did Harry and Hermione. All three of them obviously holding their breathes in nervous excitement.

Harry noticed that the deputy Headmistress still had a somewhat forlorn look on her face. Her emerald green eyes focused straight on Arina's unconscious form on the bed. She seemed to fight an internal battle with quite a few emotions and thoughts running through her head – as well as something Harry couldn't quite place.

But he didn't blame her. After all, it most certainly didn't happen every day that two students were about to watch their teacher's memories – no matter the relationship that had formed between all of them during the years and the recent war. In case their theory about the Magic mirror was right, they had to view all the remaining memories and were forced to view every single detail about a person's – in Professor McGonagall's case very private – life.

"Professor McGonagall?" Hermione asked carefully.

Surprisingly, the witch in question immediately nodded slowly, took a deep breath and tore her glance away from Arina.

But once she had completely looked up to focus on Harry and Hermione, he absolutely wasn't prepared for the amount of emotion that was written in her emerald eyes.

"You will be thrown back in the memories no matter what I say," she answered thoughtfully.

Harry was about to reply something, but the scottish witch continued in a very emotional voice.

"Therefore all I ask is that you promise to keep everything you are about to see to yourselves." she whispered in an almost pleading voice and looked from Hermione to Harry and back to the young witch. "And in case you might see something that's troubling you, I'd rather have you coming to talk to me immediately, understood? I am afraid there will be quite a few things that won't be pretty to watch."

"We promise." both of them said at the same time, meaning it with all their heart.

Professor McGonagall nodded. "Good," she said and reached out to touch Harry comfrontingly on the shoulder. "I trust you. Both."

This time it was Hermione's turn to nod. "We know. And, thanks Professor."

She gave the young witch a small smile, then carefully brushed her fingers through Arina's hair, because again, a loose stand of hair had fallen into her face.

Dan, however, raised an eyebrow, grinned and focused on the emerald-eyed witch.

"So that's it: Good? " he asked curiously. "That is all you are going to tell - "

But the Transfiguration Mistress held up her hand and interrupted.

"Yes, dear," she said and turned back to the two of the Golden Trio - and Harry was sure he heard some kind of amusement in her voice. "They will find out soon enough on their own."

Harry and Hermione glanced curiously at their Professor.

However, before either of them could comment on her remark, Hermione spotted that the magic mirror was glowing again.

"Harry, I think it's time again." She said and pointed in its direction.

He knew she was right and quickly, but carefully let go of Arina's hand, as did Hermione. They saw more and more blood red light floating out of the mirror and he felt the now almost familiar tug that somehow draw him closer and closer to the Pensieve-like mirror.

The last thing he heard, before they got shranked to a smaller size was Professor McGonagall's softly whispering voice.

"No matter what you are about to see, keep in mind, that sometimes, secrets are kept for a reason."


Harry was the first to land on the floor, Hermione crashed down right next to him so he held out his hand to help her up again.

"Thanks." She said, then pointed to the floor once more. "Harry, look. Batty's followed us again."

Harry bent down once more and picked up the little bat, petted it shortly on the head before he put it back in one of the pockets of his robes again. He smiled when he felt it cuddle against him.

"Rembember the broken wing? Its blood must be in the Mablomi, too."

Hermione nodded, then turned her head sharply to look at her friend with a raised eyebrow.

"Wait. Mablomi?" she asked confused.

Harry laughed. "A result of pure laziness. It's an abbreviation for Magic blood mirror. And considering it's a new creation of a pensieve, so I thought a name might come in handy."

The young witch looked impressed, but before she could reply, Harry spoke again.

"Now, let's look around where we are, Mione."

I wasn't difficult to guess at all. They stood at the end of the Great Hall, that was already full of students and decorated in all the house colours, but the house tables were longer than usually; each of them had one additional empty table added at the end next to the oldest students. He also observed two other flags hanging beside the Hogwarts crest at the end of the Hall over the staff table, though he couldn't quite place where they belonged to.

Harry just wanted to ask Hermione about the mysterious flags and the year they had probably been thrown into, when he heard a fairly familiar voice next to him. He turned around and his mouth dropped open. There, right next to him at the Gryffindor table, sat one Lily Evans. Sure, a younger version of his mother, but nonetheless the same person with the unmistakable auburn hair and her amazing emerald eyes. Taking a closer step to the table, he also spotted his father, Sirius, Remus, Neville's mother and Aidan sitting around her. His heart skipped a beat.

At this moment, Harry, filled with happiness, decided that he had to thank Professor McGonagall once they were back for allowing them to see all these memories, for they were a true gift. To see his mother again was a dream come true.

Hermione next to him smiled and put an arm around him. "You know, Arina and your mother were very close, so I am sure the chance is very high that we will see your parents in a lot of her memories as well."

Harry beamed. "I hope so," was all he said. Of course his friend was right, but he still decided to listen closely and cherish every single word his parents and their friends would say.

"Merlin, when can we eat already?" Sirius complained, playing with his knife.

"Really!" Lily replied annoyed, and snatched the knife out of his hand. "Stop playing! You'll end up hurting someone!"

"Yes, probably himself," James Potter laughed and Remus joined him.

Lily and Alice Longbottom rolled their eyes at the boys.

"Honestly, Prongs, I would never hurt anyone!" Sirius said with a load of irony in his voice that caused his friends to laugh even more. "Besides, I'm only trying to get the right angle to throw it all over to the Slytherin table. With a little bit of luck it should hit one of them."

"You should be careful that I won't hit you." Alice said and held up her magazine of WitchWeekly.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "I doubt you could hurt a Grindylow with that, Alice."

"Besides," James added laughing even harder than before and nudged Dan, who was sitting next to him. "Gold here already started his apprentence ship under Madame Pompfrey. He can put him back together again."

Even Dan laughed now.

Harry however, turned confused to Hermione. "Why does Dan look older than everyone?"

"My mother told me that he had been injured during a car accident when he was eleven." She explained sadly and Harry looked shocked. "It took him three years to fully recover, but luckily he was still allowed to attend Hogwarts, even though he was older than everyone else in his year. As far as I know, this accident was also the reason he wanted to become a surgeon."

With that she turned her attention back to the scene.

"You are unbelieveable." Lily said, smiling.

"I know," James replied smiling, mumbled something, waved his wand and conjured a beautiful rose, which he handed to her. "But that's why you love me."

Now it was Sirius' turn to roll his eyes at this best friend.

"Really, Prongs! Do you have to do these romantic things now? I haven't even had dinner yet and – "

He was interrupted by Professor McGonagall, who was clapping her fork against her glass.

Harry had to take a double look, because for a short moment he thought that a Arina was standing there instead of her, but he quickly rubbed his eyes, blinked and shook his head. No, the witch up there wore – perfectly fitting - emerald robes and her eyes were the same colour. Wow, Professor McGonagall was even more beautiful than she was in his time. He could only imagine how turned head during her own seven years in Hogwarts. He smiled when he though about something Sirius' had told him some time ago that almost half of his classmates were secretly in love with the emerald eyed Professor. Though he had to admit that her resemblance to Arina was quite remarkable.

"May I have your attention please?" She looked around, gave one of the students her famous glare and Harry knew that this was the reason that she had – even with her looks – this kind of respect and authority from almost every student – and adult.

Now a slightly younger version of Professor Dumbledore stood up. And here, Harry could also see that, a couple of years back, he must have been an extraordinary handsome man, too.

"Now that the sorting of the first years is over- "

He was not so politely interrupted by a rather loud "Finally!" from Sirius.

Everyone in the Great Hall burst into laugher.

"Yes, yes, Mr. Black, you are quite right, but we are not quite finished yet, I am afraid."

Sirius stared at him, disbelieve written all over his face.

"You see," Dumbledore continued, "you might have noticed the flags hanging next to the our Hogwarts crest."

After most students had noticed, confused faced looked up at the headmaster. For some reason Lily didn't look surprised at all, on the contrary, she beamed and her eyes were sparkling with excitement.

"The reason for this is, that Hogwarts was selected to host this years Tri-Wizard-Tournament Competition!" He explained, smiling at the "What?!", "awesome!" and "No bloody way!"s that had erupted from the students.

While Dumbledore tried to calm his students down, Remus turned to Lily.

"Why aren't you surprised?! This is amazing!"

Lily smiled. "Because I already knew about it." At the confused expression she added. "I told you about my best friend, Arina?"

James, Sirius, and Remus nodded.

"The one that you always write these thousands of letters to?" Alice asked. Lily nodded, smiling.

"Well, she told me about it, because she attends one of the other schools that comes here for the competition." She beamed, and when she saw the stunned looks on the faces of her friends, she quickly added. "But I was sworn to secrecy, sorry guys."

Before either of them could reply, Dumbledore continued. "The students of the other schools will be sporadically sorted into our houses, so they don't have to bother with other slepping arrangements. And now, please welcome with me the Students of Witchcraft and Wizardry Schools Castelobruxo and Ilvermony. Welcome!"

It was quite the sight and Hogwarts students cheered from everywhere when the door opened and the brasilian students from the former school ran in and the Ilvermony students suddenly appeared with bright light in front of the staff table.

Once everyone had calmed down a bit, Professor McGonagall stood up and walked into the middle of the hall with the sorting hat in her hand.

"Alright, as you may already know, it is a Hogwarts tradition to be sorted into one of the four Houses – Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Huffelpuff or Slytherin. I will put the hat on your had and he will decide what house you are suitable for. And even though you are not from the same school, your house will be like your family, no matter what." She said and called the first name from her list."

"Merlin, is that list long!" Sirius complained.

Harry and Hermione watched amazed as one student after another got sorted, until Professor McGonagall called a very familiar name.

"Pendragon, Arina," Professor McGonagall called and looked a younger, stunningly beautiful version of Arina in the eyes. Harry noticed that Professor Dumbledore now sat straighter in his chair and watched excitedly.

James and Sirius on the other hand stared at Lily. "Your best friend is from Ilvermony?!" James began. "This school might be even better than Hogwarts!"

Sirius however was stunned and open mouthed because of another fact. "Merlin, she's as hot as you, Lil!"

Lily rolled her eyes. Everyone else laughed, including Harry and Hermione.

Arina took a deep breath and sat on the chair. And then, Professor McGonagall did something new, which only Harry and Hermione could see.

"Don't worry," she said and squeezed Arina's hand softly before she sat the hat on her head.

"My, my, and here I thought I would never have the pleasure of sorting you!" the hat begun.

Arina had jumped once the hat had spoken and Professor McGonagall had rolled her eyes at the words.

"Ilvermony is indeed one of the best schools we have," the hat continued. "But deep down, you know, that Hogwarts would have been a good place for you, too. Especially considering your blood line."

Arina looked to Professor McGonagall, but she just shrugged with her shoulders, indicating that the hat would talk until he made up his mind.

"Now, don't look so scared. There is only one place for you," here the hat made a dramatic pause, causing the deputy Headmistress to roll her eyes again. "Welcome home," he finally said, "Welcome home, Princess of Gryffindor."

The Gryffindor table clapped loudly, and Harry watched as his mother stood up and cheered along for her best friend.

Arina, obviously relieved, handed the hat back to the Head of Gryffindor House, who in return gave her a very proud smile.

Then the Young witch ran towards the Gryffindor table, and once she reached it, Lily immediately embraced her.

"I missed you so much, A," Lily said as they sat down.

"I missed you, too, L," Arina said happy and sat down next to her.

"Alright," the red haired witch said. "Let me introduce you: Guys, this is Arina. Arina, this is Alice." She pointed to the short, brown haired witch on her other side.

"This," she pointed at James, Remus and Sirius, "Are my boyfriend, James, and his prankster friends, Remus and Sirus."

"But a wonderful witch from Ilvermony like you can, of course, call me Padfoot!" Sirius shouted eagerly and held out his hand. "

Lily shook her head, but Arina just laughed and shook Sirius' hand. "Lil has told me a lot about you."

"Only the bad boy things I hope."

Ignoring the Young wizard, Lily turned to the elder students next to them.

"Never mind him, Rina. These guys here next to you are one year above us, 7th years. One of them our handsome Headboy, here."

Apparently Dan was also Headboy, because he stood up in a very gentlemen style and held out his hand. "Aidan Gold."

"Arina." The young black haired witch said, accepting his hand, "Pendragon," she quickly added, blushing. "Nice to meet you."

Dan smiled at her, his brown eyes dancing with joy. "Nice to meet you, too. And welcome to Gryffindor, Princess."

Hermione squealed. "Oh, Harry, that's probably the first time they met!"

Harry, too, smiled at the scene and at seeing his parents again after such a long time. But again, before he could reply, waves of red floated in and they started swirling around.

.

However, instead of being thrown out in front of Professor McGonagall and Aidan again, they landed once more on an unknown ground.

"Another memory?" Harry asked confused.

Hermione seemed to think for a moment. "I think so. Maybe the one we just watched wasn't long enough, so the Mablomi still has enough energyfor another memory."

"Good." Harry smiled. "I enjoyed watching it."

"So did I," the young witch said, also smiling. "It was probably one of Arina's memories."

"Or one of my mother's." The young wizard added smiling, but Hermione frowned.

"It seemed to be. But Harry, to watch your mother's memories we need her blood in the Mablomi." She said, thoughtfully. "And I thought it contained only Professors Dumbledore und McGonagall's blood and Aidan and Arina's."

Harry nodded. "I guess you are right. Silly thought. Now, where are we?"

They were in a dark room, with some pretty old chairs and tables, and dirt on the floor. But somehow this place seemed familiar. Apparently Hermione noticed too, because she started to walk around as long as no one showed up.

"It's Hogs Head!" she exclaimed.

Of course, Hermione was right, and as if to confirm her suspicion, Aberforth Dumbledore walked through an old door behind the bar into the room.

He didn't look any different from what Harry remembered as he saw him the last time during the battle, so he assumed that they had only been thrown back a couple of month at the most. The messy haired boy was also surprised to watch him clean the tables and for a brief moment he wondered what time it was. He tried to figure it out by looking through a window, but they were to dirty to recognize anything. Just as he wanted to ask Hermione about it he heard something scratching on the back door. Apparently Aberforth noticed too, because he grumbled something and went to the door. He carefully opened the door to see a grey tabby cat with emerald eyes waiting outside.

"Professor McGonagall!" exclaimed Harry this time, but the bushy haired witch just nodded in agreement not to miss anything important.

Aberforth grumbled once more something and made a harsh gesture and the cat walked in. Well, more limped in, as Harry noticed. And apparently so did Aberforth, because he starred at the cat strangely before he spoke.

"You're limping."

It looked as if the cat wanted to roll her eyes, which made Harry grin – typical Professor McGonagall – but his grin vanished as fast as it came when he saw her transform back into her human form. He could hear several gasps one from Hermione and one had escaped himself – and even Aberforth starred at the deputy Headmistress with what seemed to be a concerned look. She had cuts and bruised everywhere and he could make out some traces of fresh blood.

"You look like hell."

"Thank so much for this evaluation, Aberforth, and it's nice to see you, too!" snorted Professor McGonagall and sat down on top of a more or less clean table.

Aberforth eyed her suspiciously.

"What do you want?"

"Well, considering you asked so nicely, glass of water would be lovely!" was the dry reply.

Aberforth groaned, but handed her a glass of water nonetheless.

"No, what do you want here?" He emphasized annoyed. "It's three O'clock in the morning for Merlins sake!"

"Yes, I'm aware of the current time," She said as she took the glass from him. Then she took a short sip and sight.

"I am here to ask you a favor."

Aberforth snorted.

"I already told you, that I won't do any suicide missions for the Order! I already take an enormous risk for passing on Information as it is." he spat.

The deputy Headmistress' lips thinned immediately and her eyes sparkled dangerously.

"This is war, Aberforth! Do you really think it's easy for me to come here with these Carrow siblings all around the School? Tracing every step I take?" she said furiously.

"Then you shouldn't sneak out in the middle of the night!"

Her lips thinned – if possible – even more.

"It's the only chance I've got."

"It's foolish!"

Now Professor McGonagall stood up.

"I have to do it, for my student's sake!"

Aberforth grumbled again.

"Maybe you should for once think about your own sake, Minerva! You certainly look like you've already done a hell of o lot for them!"

As much of a jerk Aberforth might have been that night, Harry had to admit that in this particular point he was right. The emerald eyed witch looked beyond exhausted and taking in consideration the things that Neville had told him, he suspected that his Head of House had willingly taken some of the punishments and curses that were meant for her students.

"I don't care about myself… I just want to keep the children as… healthy… as possible. And if this requires taking a few curses or sneaking out in the middle of the night then I'm more than willing to take that risk!"

Aberforth began to clean his tables again.

"Well then…. I'm apparently just not used to see someone caring about others."

Harry glanced over to his friend. Hermione seemed to be as confused by this statement as he was, and by the looks of it, Professor McGonagall was, too.

"What are you talking about, Aberforth?" she asked slightly irritated.

He gave her an annoyed look.

"I'm talking about my dearest brother! The oh so greatest wizard since Merlin himself! But he never gave a damn about others than himself!" he said and slammed his fist against the table.

Professor McGonagall just stared at him in disbelieve, as did Harry and Hermione.

"You can't be serious." she stated calmly.

After Harry's fancy it was a little to calm and he was sure, that if Aberforth kept on talking such nonsense, her famous Scottish temper would get the better of her.

"Of course I am!"

"That's completely ridiculous! Did you forget what Albus has done for the whole wizarding-community?! For Hogwarts?! What he taught his students, what he gave to them! Just think of all the things he tried to keep young Mr. Potter safe!"

Harry couldn't agree more with her statement. After all he now knew why Professor Dumbledore did the things he did.

But Aberforth just laughed darkly.

"He just wanted to get attention. As for Hogwarts, it's possible that maybe he cared for some of them… But as for the Potter boy, wherever he is right now, I bet you it's some kind of suicide mission he's doing for Albus!"

Professor McGonagall clenched her fists.

"As dangerous as it might be, Aberforth, in order to win this war, we have to do certain things, if we want it or not! Harry is aware of the importance of what he's doing at the moment, and he also knows that he has to do it either way! It needs to be done. He's our only hope, Aberforth! And I've faith in him that he's going to manage every task, that's lying ahead of him! And Albus cared for Harry, as if he belonged to family!"

Harry was very touched by her words and watched in awe how much proud lingered in his Professors' voice. But way more interesting was that somehow, Professor McGonagall seemed to know what he was doing on his search, even if she didn't say it clear. He wondered for a brief moment if she had known about the Horcrucxes as well…

"He never cared a bit about his family!" Aberforth snapped.

"Of course he did!" Professor McGonagall shouted, her Scottish temper coming through. "Albus loved his family more than anything else in the world!"

"He killed his own sister, Minerva!" the younger Dumbledore shouted to Harry's surprise. After all neither of the Dumbledore brothers talked a lot about what happended to their sister.

"How dare you, Aberforth! How dare you say this! Albus loved Ariana! And he felt guilty about what happened back then every single day of his life! Even on the day he died he still didn't know whether it was his, Grindelwalds' or your own curse, Aberforth that killed her! And neither do you!"

This remark war clear enough for even Aberforth to understand.

Aberforth looked shocked and was silent for some minutes. Apparently he hadn't expected Professor McGonagall to know what exactly had happened that night in Godric's Hollow. So he just stared at the emerald eyed witch.

Then he casually waved his wand and chairs and tables started to rearrange themselves to their original places. He walked behind the bar when he spoke for the first time.

"What kind of favor was it you wanted again?" he asked looking down at his counter.

"I've got two." She said in a very cold voice.

Aberforth seemed to shiver slightly at her tone.

"Well, shoot."

Professor McGonagall eyed him skeptically, then took a deep breath and started.

"The students are treated horrible at Hogwarts with these Carrows around. At one point their methods simply got too far! I started hiding some of my cubs in the room of requirement. But as you may already know, one of the things the room cannot afford is food. But somehow Ariana's portrait appeared in the room, which has a secret passageway directly into your bar here. No one knows about this way and I was hoping if I'd sent some of the children through, that you would provide them with some food and water to keep them from starving."

"It was Professor McGonagall's idea to hide Gryffindors in the room of requirement?" asked Hermione astonished, "I thought it was Neville's."

Harry shook his head.

"No, when I spoke to Ginny she said that it was Professor McGonagall who suggested it in the first place." He explained, "She also got them the little radio to listen to the Potterwatch!"

Before Hermione could reply something else, Aberforth spoke again.

"Alright. I will see what I can do. And what was the second one?" he asked.

Professor McGonagall tensed a little and she took a deep breath before answering the wizard's question.

"In case Potter, Granger and Weasley should turn up here in Hogs Mead, do everything you can to prevent them from being caught and show them Ariana's passageway into the room of requirement."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other. Shock and utter astonishment was clearly written on their faces.

Harry knew if he was here all Ron would say now was "Bloody Hell."

"They'd be completely insane to ever come back here, Minerva." Aberforth said exasperated.

The transfiguration Mistress seemed to think about what to say.

"It's rarely possible, yes, but if Potter and his friends should show up here nevertheless, I need your word, that you'll support them by every means, Aberforth." she urged.

Aberforth sighed.

"For all I care, I'll do it."

"Thank you, Aberforth." Professor McGonagall sent him a thankful glance. "I'm in your dept, please tell me how I can make up for this!" she said and headed for the back door.

Harry and Hermione were about to follow their Professor, when Aberforth called her back.

"Minerva! Wait." he shouted, just before she was about to close the door behind her.

She turned around.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Actually, I've got something to settle your depts."

"What is it?" she asked again.

Aberforth looked up at her eyes with a somewhat painful glance.

"How…How do you know that he still thought about her, Minerva? About Ariana?"

Professor McGonagall was silent for some time and starred at Ariana's portrait, apparently pondering over what to tell him. Then she locked eyes with Aberforth again and fixed him with her amazing emerald eyes. Her expression softened when she spoke and she gave a small smile.

"Albus loved Ariana. Not a single day has gone by that he hadn't thought about her," she said in a whisper, fighting the tears that had started to form in her emerald eyes and threatened to fall, "after all, he decided to name his own daughter after her."

And with that she quickly transformed into the silver tabby again, leaving a clearly stunnded, wide-eyed and open-mouthed Aberforth Dumbledore behind.

Everything went blurry and again the red waves swirled in from all sides, leaving Harry and Hermione not even the slightest bit of time to process all these new information before they were thrown out of the Mablomi again.


A.N.: Finally, the next chapter's up. I apologize that it took so Long, but... no, I don't have a good enough excuse this time. Again, big thank-you s and hugs to all the people who read, fav/ and followed this Story! You are amazing! *hugs to everyone*

As always, I hope you enjoy reading the new chapter! And tell me what you think, I love getting new Reviews!

to Anna30148 and Guest: Thank you guys for the Review! I'm glad you like it *smile*

Yours, Lexi