...
"Sometimes, loyalty gets in the way of what you want to do. Sometimes, it's not your secret to tell."
Stepenie Meyer
...


A loud bang was heard and Harry felt once again the weight of his best friend's body on him, who had landed once more right on top of him.

"Merlin, Hermione, we really have to figure something out for this… or one day I'll end up with several broken bones. No offence," he added quickly as he tried to get out from under her body.

"Bloody hell, mate! Hermione! Where the hell are you coming from?!" Ron's surprised voice was the first thing he heard and he sent his friend a grateful glance when he extended his hand and helped his girlfriend up.

"Thanks Ron," the brown haired witch said smiling. She gave him a small kiss on the lips and started dusting of some pieces of dirt from her clothes.

Harry had in the meantime managed to get up on his own feet and sat down on his usual place on the edge of Arina's bed again, next to Professor McGonagall and Aidan, who had apparently stayed right where they had been earlier.

Smiling, he also saw that his friends had returned from their work. It seemed like they had moved the big round table, since it was now even closer by Arina's bed. She still didn't look good. Her face was even paler than before and her red lips had lost some of their colour, too.

"Well, I'd say most theories about the mirror can be confirmed now. Are you both alright?" The Transfiguration Mistress asked concerned, still holding the Mablomi in her hands and fixing both young adults with her bright emerald eyes.

"Yes, Professor, We're fine," Hermione answered before Harry even had the change to open his mouth.

To be honest, he was still a little flummoxed from the contents of the last memory – or rather from the fact that Professor Dumbledore had a daughter. As if Hermione had read his thoughts, she immediately sent him a sharp look that clearly said: "We'll talk about this later."

"Honestly Harry, I'd really like to know where you two have been. I thought you only wanted to help – what's its name again? – ah yes, Batty." Ron said and gestured towards the little bat, who seemed to be asleep on Professor McGonagall's lap.

"Well, we did heal the wing," Harry answered sheepishly, "but we accidently – "

"Witches and Wizards," he was spared yet another answer since Xemerius quickly walked towards their group; in both his hands several plates filled with hot, steaming and wonderful smelling food. "I am more than happy to announce that the house elves have just finished preparing dinner! The buffet is located at the end of the hall, so take a plate and dig in everyone! That include's you, too, Min."

A roar of laughter erupted from the people around him, especially Professor McGonagall had immediately rolled her eyes at her friend's response.

"What would I do without you Xem?" She asked sarcastically, but a smile was playing around the corners of her lips.

"Well," the Ilvermorny Headmaster said grinning wildly and sat down on the table right next to her. "You'd probably be starved to death if it wasn't for me."

"Another roar of laughter and a nudge in the his ribs from the emerald eyed witch followed his remark. Then Ron did what Harry had expected him to do minutes ago: he eagerly took Hermione's hand into his own and led her to the buffet.

A soft mumbling from Hermione, that sounded suspiciously like "You always have to think with your stomach!" , was heard and with wide smiles Ginny, Neville, Draco and Luna sat down on the table next to Xemerius.

At further examination, Harry noticed that Molly and Arthur, Moody, Augusta, and even Madam Hooch as well as Bill and Fleur had joined them and were currently sitting on the already rather 'famous' table.

"You should get yourself something to eat as well, Mr – I mean Harry," Professor McGonagall smiled softly at him and skillfully ignored Xemerius' whispered "The irony of you saying that Min…"

Chuckling slightly, Harry nodded, got up and quickly followed Ron and Hermione to the food.

"Hey, wait for me!" He shouted and tried to catch up with them.

Hermione stopped, Ron on the other hand – could it be any different? – continued like in trance, mesmerized by the wonderful smell.

"Thanks … Mione…" Harry said, a little out of breath.

The brightest witch of her age just smiled. "You know that no one's able to stop Ron once he has spotted something eatable."

Laughing, they both continued their way until they reached the vegetable section. Suddenly, the brown haired witch grabbed his arm.

"Harry… do you feel something…"

"Strange?" Harry was barely able to finish her sentence, since all of a sudden his stomach felt like he was on a boat trip and suffered from a very bad wave of nausea.

He quickly looked around, trying to figure out what was happening. Headshaking and a negative answer already on his tongue, he turned back to Hermione when –

"Hermione, you are glowing red!"

"So are you!" Her voice was shaking and she mentioned for him to look down his own body.

It was true. Both of them were glowing in a bright, dark red.

"Now, what in Merlin's name does this – "

He wasn't able to finish his sentence. In what felt like a split second, both of them shrunk again and flew, a redly shining aura around them, right back to the table and Arina's bed, like two magnets attracting each other. However, everything the others probably saw was just a single red stream of light disappearing in the little mirror in Professor McGonagall's hand.

With a loud noise, Harry and Hermione crashed down on the floor in yet another memory.

"Holy Godric! That feeling is worse like the first time apparating!" Harry complained and once again helped his best friend up again.

"True. But at least we have figured out yet another thing about the Mablomi."

"We did?" The boy who lived asked confused.

"Well, when I left to get some dinner, nothing happened. Then you joined me and – woosh. My conclusion: At least one of us has to stay within a certain radius of the Mablomi. When the distance is too great, it summons us back."

Harry stared at his frined and not for the first time he wondered what on earth was going on in Hermione's brain that she was able to figure things out so quickly. She's not the brightest witch of her age for nothing, he thought smiling.

"That does sound plausible…" he finally managed to say sheepishly. "But what now?"

The witch laughed. "We do what we have done the last couple of times we came here, Harry. Watch the memories, of course."

The black haired wizard groaned. Why didn't he think of that?

Sighing, he shook his head to see where or rather when they had landed this time...

They found themselves to be in a nicely decorated room. A living room to be exact, with a blue sofa, that had about a dozen pillows on it. And there, right in the middle between all the pillows, that Arina and – Harry's heart skipped a beat when he saw that he had the little sleeping baby-version of himself on her lap.

Next to her sat a slightly older woman, with brown, bushy hair and kind, hazel eyes. She, too, had a small child on her lap. Harry looked over to Hermione and saw her smiling brightly at thescene.

"That's Arina and my mum," she whispered.

"I suspected. You look exactly like your mother, Hermione," Harry winked at her, "I'm really looking forward to meeting you parents properly one day. I can barely remember that one meeting in second year in Diagon Alley…"

The young witch blushed. "Thanks, Uncle Dan and Dad always say so, too. Oh, and by the way…. I recently spoke to Professor McGonagall and she gave me permission to bring my parents to Hogwarts. With the war and all… she said it's a time for family."

"Nice."

They watched as baby-Mione started to crawl away from her mother, towards the book next to Arina. The black haired witch chuckled and carefully handed her the book.

"It seems that little Mione wants you to finish the story, Rina," Hermione's mother said, laughing.

"Honestly, how does she know that I haven't even finished, Jean?" Arina asked quite flummoxed as she watched the little girl search for the bookmark and opened it at the exact right page. "You aren't even that much into reading, so I really wonder where she got this love for books from."

Jean Granger laughed hole heartedly. Then she quickly stood up, picked baby-Mione up and handed the book back to the blue-eyed witch again. "You know, even though he wouldn't admit it, my husband is probably an even bigger bookworm than you are, A."

Arina also laughed, but remembered that she still had the sleeping boy on her lap, so she put her hand over him to prevent him from rolling off. "If Liam would hear you saying that, Jean… Now, let's finish that story, shall we, Harry?"

She placed the book on the table to be able to get a better look. "The prince was almost there. He used his silvery sword to cut through the thick hedge of thorns and once he had created a big enough hole, he pressed himself through the opening, leaving his horse behind. He was at the bottom of the tower, so he quickly opened the large oak door and run up the stairs to enter the little chamber at the top. Then then he saw her. The Princess looked even more beautiful than he had imagined. The ebony hair, the rosy cheecks on the otherwise pale face, and last but not least the full, red lips. He took a step closer to the bed she was resting on, careful however to avoid pricking something at the spinning wheel. Then he leaned in and kissed the sleeping girl sweetly on the lips, hoping with all his might that it would wake her up. At first, he thought that it didn't work, that the curse still wasn't broken, but then he watched happily as the Princess slowly opened her blue eyes. He helped her up, and kissed her once more. The Prince scooped he beautiful girl up in his arms, left the tower and crawled with her through the hole in the hedge. Together, they sat on the horse, riding towards the Prince' home. Once they were back in the Kingdom, the two of them got married. And they lived happily ever after."

Arina softly closed the book and looked at Jean. "Did it work?"

The other woman nodded, smiling. "Yes, sound asleep, thank god."

At this, Harry started laughing uncontrollably and received a Professor McGonagall-like elbow in the ribcage from Hermione, but she was also smiling.

Then, there was a soft knock at the door. Harry's heart skipped a beat when he saw his mother enter the room.

She was followed a stunningly handsome man, who Harry knew to be Hermione's father. He had light brown hair with some single grey streaks and sparkling emerald eyes. His face was slim with high cheekbones, very similar to Arina's.

"You had a nice day shopping, Lily, Liam?" Jean asked the two, sending her husband an evil grin.

Lily smiled brightly, whereas Hermione's father's expression looked a little like he had just been tortured.

"Honestly, I'll never go Christmas-shopping with Lily again," he exclaimed and immideately got ssshhh-ed by his wife and sister-in-law. Seing the sleeping children, he added a sheepish, "sorry."

Lily just smiled, hugged Jean, gave baby-Mione a little kiss on the forehead, walked over to Arina, hugged her, too and picked up baby-Harry.

Liam did it the other way round; he had started with Arina and now held his equally sleeping daughter in his arms.

"I warned you that shopping with Lily is pure torture, Liam," Arina teased him sweetly and got a little nudge on the arm from the man.

"Honestly, sometimes I think these two are behaving more like siblings than Dan and I do," Jean said laughing and Lily joined her.

"We are not," Liam and Arina said at the exact same time, only confirming Jean's statement.

Headshaking, Harry's mother and Hermione's father sat down on the couch next to their friends.

"I liked our little trip, Liam! And without you, I would have never found a suitable gift for James," the red-haired witch said. "And what about you two? Had a nice time double-baby sitting?"

Arina smiled. "Oh indeed we did. Dan's got the stupid 48 hour weekend-shift at the hospital again, so I was pretty happy to get something to do. And I simply can't get enough of these two little ones."

"I'll remind you one day again when you have one of 'these little ones' of your own, A," Liam laughed and cuddled his daughter closer to his chest, "they have you wrapped around their little fingers faster than you think."

For a split second, a small shadow flashed over his godmother's face. "Yeah… one day."

Harry watches as his mother put an arm around her best friend. "You still have more than enough time, Rina. And one day, you will have a child."

Liam also laid his arm around her other shoulder. "C'mon kiddo. Dan is about my age - give or take a year, right? I'm sure you won't be having any problems with you know..."

This remark obviously made Arina smile again. "He'll be happy to hear that! Though I'm pretty sure that the problem doesn't have anything to do with Dan but more with me… Besides, we decided to wait until Dan finished his residency at and I get my full curse-breaker certificate."

Jean on the other hand looked a little green around the nose. "Rina, please know that I love you all very much, but could we stop discussing my baby-brother's love life, please? I fear that I will never get the pictures out of my head."

With Jean's last sentence the scene started to dissolve. Harry grabbed Hermione's hand and for the first time they tried walking in the red swirls the same way it's done when traveling with port-keys. They even managed to land considerably steady.

"My, that was such a sweet memory!" Hermione said happily, "I never knew that your mother knew my parents!"

"Neither did I," Harry answered, "But I'm glad I do now."

"Yeah, me too. I'm also glad that Arina and Dan did get Abbie in the end."

"I almost forgot about her," the young man said sheepishly, "she's at your grandfather Max' house, right? I'm looking forward to meeting the little girl, too."

Hermione only nodded and looked around. They were at Hogwarts. More exactly in one of the stands at the Quidditch Pitch.

Harry observed that the match was already in full swing and the audience was cheering like crazy. It wasn't surprising, however, since the current match was like the red and green robes indicated, between Gryffindor and Slyhtherin, which was always a good one.

Then his attention was drawn to the handsome, auburn haired wizard right next to them. His sparkling blue eyes were unmistakebale, even though Harry had never seen Professor Dumbledore this young.

The bushy haired witch next to him had apparently noticed their former Headmaster, too, but before either of them could say a word, they heard the voice of the quidditch commentator.

"Alright alright, the referee has taken the quaffle so let's take a quick look at the points again," the brown haired seventh year said. "Bloody hell, 20 to 140 for Slytherin! The one time I'm down with a cold and Gryffindor's chasers are playing like a bunch of..."

"BROOKS!" An annoyed grey haired Professor – which Harry recognized as Professor Dippet – grunted.

"Hey, that's Xemerius!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly and Harry had to take a better look immediately. She was right. One row in front of Dumbledore, sat really the young man with brown hair and his amazing silvery-grey eyes.

"Honestly, Professor Dippet! Gryffindor is used to their top chaser being very emotional every now and then. Especially if he can't take part in the match about the bloody cup in his bloody last year at Hogwarts!"

"Focus on the game, Brooks!"

"Fine. Now what do what do we have here…" he trailed of and looked through his binoculars. Then he immediately grabbed the microphone again and even the young version of Dumbledore leaned forward to see what was happening. "Holy Merlin, that was a mean shot! In times like these I'm really happy that his year is the last year in which the seekers are allowed to use their wands against each other… This bloody Slytherin seeker just fired a nasty 'incarcerus' at our lovely Gryffindor Seeker and Team Captain! Honestly, I'm actually quite glad that she's such a brilliant witch, even though I sometimes fear she will hex me into next century… Especially when I make comments about her lovely figur–"

"Brooks! You're supposed to focus on the game and not on Miss McGonagall's body!"

This time, Harry and Hermione had to take a double take. First, because apparently back in the days, the seekers were allowed to carry their wands with them and cast spells to prevent each other from catching the snitch. And secondly, because they now looked directly at the slender frame of the young, ebony haired and emerald-green eyed witch, who was clad in crimson red Gryffindor robes, sitting on her broomstick in the middle of the Quidditch field. Her cheeks were a little flushed, but she still looked absolutely beautiful in Harry's opinion, even though she sent a furious look towards the man in the Slytherin robes.

"She's a seeker for Gryffindor and Captain!" Harry exclaimed in amazement.

"Apparently," Hermione said, her eyes still on the wand in her future Professor's hand. "It's so bloody dangerous that they are allowed to use wands during the match."

Harry nodded. "Yes, but only the seekers are allowed to use them. That's why only best students in flying and spell-knowledge were allowed to become seeker! So amazing that Professor McGonagall was one of them!"

"Considering that she was an excellent student, I find it less amazing that she was the seeker rather than how you know about the regulation."

"It's mentioned in 'Quidditch through the ages'.

"Touché," was all the smiling witch said before she turned her attention back to the game.

"Now come on girls! Let's show these Snakes how the lions really roar!" Xemerius commentated, and Harry heard Professor Dumbledore chuckle softly.

"Gryffindor's chasers are now in the position of the quaffle! Passing it from Augusta Montgommery to Penelope – excuse me – Poppy Pompfrey and to the front where my lovely replacement Tobias Jordan takes the lead. He speeds up, throws and – NOOOO! Well… I have to admit this was a rather nice safe from the Slytherin Seeker," Xemerius voice sounded like it deeply hurt him to say these words out aloud.

"Watch out for your heads people! It seems the chase for the snitch has once again begun!" The silvery-eyed wizard continued. "McGonagall only meters away from the snitch, but Dornegan is firing nasty curses her way! Amazing this woman! She is avoiding them so swiftly one would think she has eyes on the back of her head! Now come on, Min! Only a little further! Aaaaaannd she has the– HEY! WHAT THE HELL! SUCH A FREAKING SPEEL IS FORBIDDEN YOU BLOODY EMBARRESSING EXCUSE FOR A WIZARD. YOU BAS-" his next words where overshadowed by the boooo-ing of the crowd and this time not even Professor Dippet said anything.

And Harry just now realized why. The Headmaster's eyes were following the ebony-haired witch who, had been unable to deflect the Slytherin's last curse and she crashed – with full speed – into the teacher stand.

Harry, Hermione, Dumbledore and Xemerius, as well as the whole crowd had jumped out of their seat, watching with a horrified expression as the Gryffindor Seeker fell hard on the ground.

Professor Dumbledore apparated in a split seconds, and for some reason Hermione and Harry were taken with him.

The appeared right next to the quidditch stand, where the young emerald-eyed witch had crashed into.

Dumbledore immediately bent down and turned around the bundle of crimson robes.

"Tabby, are you alright?" He asked, and Harry saw that fear was plainly written on his face.

One after another, the other Gryffindor Team members landed next to their Captain.

Suddenly, the black witch on the ground moved. Slowly she lifted her head, coughed pushed herself fully up and leaned into the auburn haired wizard's embrace. A little blood was running down her forehead, but Professor Dumbledore waved his wand and a plaster put itself over the wound.

She mumbled a faint "I'm… fine…thanks…Albus…" and held up a shaking hand,

"Wait wait wait, can this be?" Xemerius voice sounded over the loudspeakers, "She really did it! Such a major fall like that but she never ceases to amaze us! Minerva McGonagall caught the Golden Snitch! But is it enough? Let's see: Slytherin was in the lead with bloody 140 Points and – GRYFFINDOR TAKES THE LEAD WITH 160 POINTS! GRYFFINDOR WINS THE QUIDDITCH CUP!"

Her Teammates around her as well as the probably the whole school (minus Slytherins of course) started cheering like crazy. Falling into each other's arms, hugging each other, smiling and some of them were even crying happy tears. Even Xemerius came running down from the stands and hugged Minerva as close as he could, his Teammates did the same and soon the slender emerald-eyed witch was lifted out of Dumbledore's arms.

"Now is what I call the catch of the century, Min!" Augusta laughed and happily embraced the slightly pale witch.

The ebony haired witch smiled happily. "And I got away with only a few scratches, amazing huh?"

Poppy Pompfrey also came closer. "After this fall… it really is amazing. Though there is no way out of a visit to the hospital wing. Ah! Don't even try it, Min!"

"Fine. I will meet you all in the common room, alright?" She asked smiling and after she saw her friends leave and the stadium getting almost empty, she turned to Dumbledore. "Would you mind accompanying me to the hospital wing, Albus?"

The wizard smiled encircled her slim waist to support her, since he had – like Harry and Hermione – spotted that the young witch was limping. "Of course, Tabby."

"Good," she sighed relieved and leaned heavily on him. "I think I might have injured myself a little more than I originally thought…"

She took her hand from her place on her stomach, only to reveal a huge amount of blood. "Just hold me, will you….?"

This was the last thing she said before she lost consciousness and the auburn haired wizard managed to catch her in the last moment.

The now familiar red clouds streamed in and soon the scene dissolved again. Right on time, Harry managed to get hold of Hermione's hand and they were twirling in the red streams of the Mablomi again.

.

Barely standing on his own feet again, he turned around to the Transfiguration Mistress, staring at her in amazement.

"You played Quidditch!"

"Of course she did!" Augusta Longbottom laughed. "Why do you think she's so upset with Gryffindor winning the Cup?"

Professor McGonagall chuckled and gestured towards Xemerius, Augusta and Madam Hooch. " Like you three are any better!"

"I hope you watched the one where we won the final match!" Madam Hooch said enthusiastically.

"We did but – wait." Harry stuttered surprised. "How do you know about the memor – "

"Don't look so frightened, dear. We all know about this special little mirror of yours," Molly said from behind.

"Yes, Professor McGonagall told us about it," Ginny added.

"You really cannot live without adventures, can you Harry?" Ron asked, laughing.

"Well, he's a Potter. What do you expect?" Draco added amused.

Everyone laughed again. "You know, this time it wasn't even my fault." Harry tried to defend himself, but he was grinning too much for anyone to take him seriously.

"Oh, don't you dare blame little Batty here." Neville said in a faked stern voice, and Luna smiled brightly at him.

"This little ting isn't as innocent as it looks. It trashed my whole office!" Dan pointed out. He slowly got up from his chair and squeezed Arina' had again. "I'll have to look through another couple of books… maybe I can find something that wakes her up."

Harry's eyes shot up and he looked from Dan to Professor McGonagall and Arina and back to surgeon again. "What do you mean? Didn't you say everything was alright?"

The transfiguration Mistress had a sad look in her eyes, and she opened her mouth to speak, but Dan was faster. "Her injuries are healing well, but I suspect that there was some kind of a curse on the blade of the knife and…" he trailed of.

"And what?" Hermione asked and took her aunt's other hand. "You think she'll never wake up again?"

Dan sighed. "The Princess here will be sleeping until I have figured something out. Now, if you excuse me, love."

"Send me a Patronus should you need anything, Minerva," he added, then touched his niece softly on the shoulder before he headed out of the Hall into the Hospital Wing.

Professor McGonagall just nodded and brushed her fingers softly through Arina's hair. It was a lovely gesture and Harry wondered once more what kind of relationship his godmother had with the transfiguration Mistress.

"Was that all you've seen?" Draco suddenly asked, causing everyone to turn their heads towards him. "I mean you've been gone for quite some time in that mirror of yours and – "

"Mablomi," Hermione mumbled lost in thoughts.

"What was that dear?" Professor McGonagall asked and looked at her with big emerald eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said sheepishly. "That's what we call the mirror now. It was Harry's idea. The short version of Magic Blood Mirror."

Xemerius started laughing and all the Weasley's, Longbottoms and everyone else joined him. "Now that's what I call an original name!"

"But Draco has a point," Luna pointed out. "What else did you see? If you don't mind, Professor…"

The emerald eyed witch didn't react; she also seemed to be lost in thoughts and was staring at Arina's sleeping form.

"Min," Augusta shouted, causing the witch in question to jump slightly.

"Merlin, Augusta!"

"Sorry. You seemed to be lost in your own world again."

The ebony haired witch sighed. "I did hear Miss Lovegood. I was pondering over what to respond."

"Well?" This time it was Xemerius.

She turned her emerald eyes towards Harry and the hint of a smile was playing around her lips. "Now Harry, it seems that you haven't experienced anything disturbing yet, so I am curious. What else have you seen except for my low-leveled Quidditch skils?"

"Low-leveled! Sure Min," Madam Hooched laughed and Harry and Hermione both grinned. After all they had seen the two of the playing together. "That's probably the understatement of the –"

Her sentence was left unfinished because the great double doors of the Great Hall opened with a loud bang. Harry immediately turned around but he lowered his wand once he saw who it was.

.

Hermione saw that everyone relaxed immediately upon seeing that it was only the white-haired and long-bearded form of Aberforth Dumbledore entering the Hall.

Apparently he had left right after the end of the battle and changed into a pair of new robes. Contrary to his brother, he apparently preferred a slightly plainer style of clothing in a simple black.

The young witch watched – a little irritated – as he briskly walked across the hall, while passing several people with filled dinner plates, until he stopped at the famous 'Round Table' as Hermione had called it in her head.

Molly, Arthur, Bill and Fleur tried to wish the approaching wizard a good evening, but he completely ignored them and turned towards Professor McGonagall, Harry and the still sleeping Arina. She observed that his face bore a strange expression, though she couldn't quite place it.

"We need to talk, Minerva," the elderly wizard said in a rather loud and demanding tone.

Hermione's eyes widened and from the looks of it, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Luna, Draco and Harry's did the same. After all, no one really dared to speak to Professor McGonagall in such a way.

The witch in question closed her eyes for a moment, apparently trying to prevent that her famous temper got the better of her.

"Minerva!" Aberforth repeated strongly.

"I have neither the time nor nerve to go and talk with you right now, Aberforth," she said surprisingly calmly, but without taking her eyes from the ebony haired, blue-eyed witch on the hospital bed.

Aberforth shook his head angrily. Then he grabbed one of the empty chairs from the Round Table and positioned himself opposite to the Transfiguration Mistress.

"Oh, don't worry. We have plenty of time right here and now to continue our last conversation. It won't kill that girl when you pay attention to someone else for a moment," he added and Hermione couldn't believe that he spoke so disrespectful about her aunt.

This time, even Madam Hooch's, Mrs. Longbottom's and Xemerius' eyes widened. Hermione was about to say something to defend the emerald-eyed witch and Arina, whom she both already loved.

"Our last conversation," Professor McGonagall started anger clearly rising in her voice, before Hermione had the chance to say something, "was weeks ago. I have expected your visit ever since. But you waited this long now, a little longer won't matter. And you should be careful about what you say in front of her. Unconscious people are often able to hear what is going on around them."

"I merely want answers, Minerva. Secrets never last forever, you know." the white-bearded man responded without wasting another thought about Arina's well-being.

However, watching the transfiguration Mistress and Professor Dumbledore's brother, Hermione was instantly reminded of this very special memory she had watched with Harry.

She glanced at him, and their eyes met for a second but it was enough for her to know that her friend was also recalling the scene. And as if to confirm their suspicion, the wizard continued, his voice a mixture between desperation and sarcasm. "Should she really exist, I have the bloody right to know something about my brother's daughter!"

In the stunned silence that followed one could have heard a single pin drop to the floor. Even Ron had stopped eating, and that said it all.

Hermione looked around more closely. Professor McGonagall stared at the wizard with furious emerald eyes. In return, everyone else, except probably Xemerius and Harry, stared at the Transfiguration Mistress with shocked faces; disbelief written all over them.

"What did you just say, Abe?" Madam Hooch screamed in a high-pitched, astonished and delighted voice. She started looking from one to the other. "He did say Albus had a daughter, right? Please tell me I'm not going completely insane? You heard him saying that too, didn't you? Auggie?!"

Augusta, like most of the Round Table's occupants, simply nodded, still not able to tear their eyes away from the emerald eyed witch.

"Minerva, come on, spill the beans!" The flying instructor demanded, her yellow eyes sparkling with excitement. "If Albus really had a daughter, surely you would know something about her! You were his best friend! He simply must have confided in you, even though he held her secret from everyone else!"

Hermione was once more astonished when she saw that Professor McGonagall, who had tightened her grip around Arina's hand, simply ignored her friend and glared at the younger Dumbledore with furious eyes.

"You lost all rights when you plainly told Albus that you never wanted to see him again. What makes you think that I will tell you anything about her?"

Madam Hooch's "Wait, so it is really true?" was once again ignored, this time however by the elderly wizard.

"I think that I am family and you are not makes it rather plausible, don't you agree?" Abe challenged her with an eyebrow raised. "Albus is dead. I'm probably the only living relative she has left… taking in consideration all the secrecy and stuff…"

He trailed off, and confused eyes followed him. Hermoine had to admit that she wasn't really sure either what he was trying to say here, but she certainly didn't like the sound of it.

"What exactly are you implying here, Mr. Dumbledore?" Hermione was more than grateful that Harry had decided to defend his deceased Headmaster.

Aberforth only gave a dry laugh.

"You really still think he was the flawless and charming Professor, Potter?"

"I don't think it, I know it," Harry replied defensively.

Another laugh followed. "Let me tell you something, Potter. Despite what he may led you to believe, he most certainly wasn't a saint. Especially considering his attrition concerning women."

A shadow flashed over Hermione's face and upon looking at the other people at the Round Table, she could see that they hadn't expected such a disrespectful response from Aberforth either.

"Abe," Augusta quickly said, shaking her head vehemently, "I think you are taking this a little too far…"

"Am I, Auggie?" He shot back, "I really want to think I'm wrong, but cannot deny that whenever he took part in public events, he didn't have the same woman for more than three occasions. They all had similar traits, concerning the quite young age and beauty, but that's it."

Upon seeing Professor McGonagall's stunned face, Xemerius decided that it was his time to speak up now. "I think you should be careful with what you say, Abe."

"I have been choosing my words carefully already, Xem," he said gumpy, "Do you want me to honestly say what I think?"

Xem's anwer was a loud 'No." followed by an unexpected, even louder "Yes," from the Transfiguration Mistress. Hermoine felt a shudder running down her back when she saw the expression of sadness, anger and disappointment in her mentor's emerald eyes.

Aberforth nodded. "As you wish. You want to know what I think?" he asked and she just nodded. Everyone around was watching the on-goings in silence. No one dared to say a single word. "Well, I think – as harsh as this sounds now – that Albus never said anything because he made a mistake."

"How dare you say this," the calmness in the ebony-haired witches voiced frightened Hermione. "Albus loved his daughter more than anyone!"

"Then why did he feel the need to keep her a secret?" He asked with both eyebrows raised. "The only reason I can think of is that he never wanted to anyone to know about the unfortunate outcome of one of his many one-night stand with… "

"With whom?" Molly Weasley asked outraged. "You might as well say it now!"

Hermoine had to bite back an evil grin when she saw that Aberforth apparently felt slightly uncomfortable continuing his sentence, which he probably hadn't planned on saying out aloud.

"Fine. A one night stand with a dirty little slut," he finally said and everyone was staring at him, eyes big as plates; Hermione included.

One second later, however, the young witch almost jumped out of her skin, as a burst of uncontrolled magic from Professor McGonagall destroyed a window.

When she had almost recovered, her heart once again skipped a beat when Aberforth Dumbledore received a sudden, hard and unexpected punsh in the face.

Hermione turned around and saw her uncle and –

She had to take a double look to make sure she wasn't seeing a ghost. She turned around to look at Harry, and upon seeing his stunned face, she knew she wasn't imagining things.

Because there, right next to Dan stood the one and only Professor Severus Snape and wiped away the small amount of blood from his fist.

"I owe you something, Severus," Dan said and glared at the old, goat-loving wizard.

Hermione had never seen her uncle look so angry.

"Don't mention it. She means a lot to me, too," the potions master replied in his deep voice, and made his way over to Professor McGonagall, Harry and Arina, and softly brushed another loose strand of hair out of her face. "Despite handcuffing me to a bloody hospital bed."

Hermione saw that Harry clearly wanted to say something to the newly arrived Professor, but no words came out of his mouth.

"We'll talk, Potter. But not now," Professor Snape said without looking up from Arina.

The young witch chuckled when Harry's only response was a shy nod.

Then her attention was drawn back to Dan, who was – contrary to his usually calm self – grabbing the fabric of Aberforth' robe and forced him to look into his brown eyes.

"I will only say this once, so you better pay attention," Dan whispered in a dangerously low voice, though it was still loud enough for everyone else to hear. "Just because I took an oath to save people, doesn't mean I won't lay hands on you myself should you ever insult my wife or mother-in-law again! Did I make myself clear?"


A.N.: Yes, I'm back with chapter ten! I dearly apologize to all of you, my faithful readers, for letting you wait so long!

This story means a lot to me... and I didn't want to write anything when my heart isn't full in it so...

I kept myself occupied with writing several one-shots and joining a wonderful forum: 'the golden snitch'. It's filled with amazing people/writers and challenges. I use this opportunity to say that we're always happy to find new people to join! *secretly hopes that some of you perhaps want to join*

But enough now, here we go!Thanks to everyone who read/reviewed/fav/followed this!

A very very very special thank you to Sonja, who really made me want to continue this story! Thanks, dear! *hugs*

[Also, a tiny warning: mild swearing towards the end (well, basically someone saying 'dirty little slut', but that's about it :D]

All the best,

Lexi