Chapter Four

Reunions

As the days of a summer unburdened with the fear to which he was so accustomed drew on, Harry found himself restless. Now, with his seventeenth year closing rapidly on him, he missed the happy days he had found at Hogwarts. That day when he had first kissed Ginny in the middle of his sixth year seemed so distant now, so very far away. There were times, of course, when true happiness showed through, usually the times he spent with Ron and Hermione, caring for vermillion, who, though growing at an alarming rate, was still in his infancy, and, probably most of all, those precious moments he shared with Ginny.

With only three weeks left until the end of the summer, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny packed their things, and prepared to leave the burrow, under the auspices of meeting with professor McGonagall and arranging for Harry, Ron, and Hermione to return to school. in the past week, they had spent much time with Mr. Weasley, who, when Ginny told him of their plan, had, after expressing considerable reluctance, given in, and helped them with several backup plans. He was also a crucial part in convincing Mrs. Weasley that they weren't going to go running off on another adventure. Finally, the day arrived when the return letter came from Hogwarts. It had been a full four days since they had first sent their letter. It had taken that long largely because Ron had suggested that Pigwidgeon take the letter, since Vermillion still had some time before he was ready for long trips, or even the phoenix's brand of fiery apparation (Harry could only assume that newborn phoenixes had a different growth rate from recently reborn phoenixes, seeing as how Fawks had regenerated from a burning day within days, while vermillion had taken close to a week to reach adolescence).

It took a final impatient hour before they were fully ready to leave for Hogsmeade, and then they left the house, reassuring mrs. Weasley that they would return in three days at the most. With a final look back at the burrow, they turned on the spot, and found themselves looking at a tall man with a scraggly beard, and sparkling blue eyes, who stood behind the bar of the Hog's Head Inn.

"Don't tell me we're under attack again!" said Aberforth exasperatedly.

"Oh, sure," said Ron. "That and the sky's caving in, so we popped in to the hog's head for a visit."

"what Ron means to say is – well, come to think of it, why are we in the hog's head? I thought all agreed we were apparating into the three broomsticks."

Harry swept the room with eyes keen for danger. The Hog's head, even with Aberforth as its barman, was a place where the shadiest of characters came to quench their thirst, and Harry felt a sense of suspicious unease steal over him. There was no one in the room, but the door was still on its closing swing as his eyes turned towards it.

"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking of how I wanted to thank Ab for vermillion," said Ginny, sounding slightly confused, "so I guess our destination must have slipped my mind. Sorry guys." Harry was about to ask Ginny how none of them had splinched, if that was the case, when Aberforth cut in, and said "vermillion? Oh, you mean that phoenix egg. Hatched for you, did it? Well good for you. Never could get the blasted thing to hatch myself, though I did consider making an omelet with it on one occasion."

With that, the conversation took a different turn, and Harry soon forgot his question, and his unease.

Hogsmeade was a somewhat different place than last Harry had seen it. Even now, with the death eaters gone, the damage they left behind was still present. The shrieking shack, where Voldemort had murdered Severus Snape little more than a month and a half ago now stood open, the boards ripped from the door, which lay torn from one hinge. Zonko's Joke shop was still closed up, and Madame Puddifoot's, where Harry had once gone with his former girlfriend, Cho Chang, was burned to the ground. The town, unlike diagon alley, was for the most part devoid of tourists and visitors, though this could to some extent be attributed to the lack of Hogwarts students. as the four walked down the near empty main street, Harry got a sense of just how long it might take for the world to recover from Voldemort's attacks. Finally, they arrived at the outskirts of Hogwarts grounds. As they made their way up the hill towards the castle, they heard a familiar barking noise, and all at once, Hagrid was ambling towards them, fang loping at his enormous heels.

"Harry!" said Hagrid, as they rushed to meet him, at which point he engaged Harry in one of his crushing hugs. "Not that I ain't glad t' see yeh, but what're ye doing 'ere at Hogwarts in the middle o' summer?"

Before Harry could answer, Hermione spoke from behind him. "We wanted to find out who the new headmaster is. We were considering coming back for an eighth year, since we sort of failed to attend our seventh." Harry didn't have to ask why they were telling Hagrid this half truth. Dumbledore had trusted Harry and his friends with this mission, and it was up to them to complete it, and, considering that the mission was cryptic to begin with, they were probably smart to not meander about with loose tongues.

as they made their way through the empty halls of Hogwarts, Harry felt a sense of nostalgic longing for his only true home. Despite the damage done by the rampaging giants, death eaters, and acromantulas a month and a half prior, the school seemed to have bounced back, and most of the damage had been repaired. As they approached the two recently restored gargoyles that led up to the headmaster's office, Harry heard the approach of hurried footsteps from behind them.

"Harry!" came the voice that went with the first set of footsteps. Harry recognized it as that of Neville Longbottom. Harry turned around just as Neville rounded the corner, followed closely by Luna Lovegood.

"Neville? What are you and Luna doing here?" asked Hermione, once the two had come close enough that they no longer had to shout.

"well, the two of us had been owling each other, and Luna got the idea that maybe, since last year was a bit of a flop, we should see if we could come back for an eighth year to make up for it, and Luna said that we should go today."

"I think I must have been possessed by a harbinging frumt – they have the unique ability to sense unexpected reunions before they occur" said Luna, matter of factly.

Harry thought he might have a better idea of how she knew they were coming, but there were more pressing matters at hand than knowing if Luna had the power of prophecy. Harry briefly met the gazes of Ginny, Ron and Hermione, who nodded in answer to the unasked question of whether they should tell the other two what was going on.

"We have something to tell you two, but I think it would be better said in private – can we head to the room of requirement?"

-

Though fiendfire had only touched one aspect of the room of requirement, when they entered the room, which had taken the form of their DA training room, the walls seemed tarnished, and the acrid smell of ash and smoke still hung in the air.

"The fiendfire must have damaged the integrety of the magical foundation of the room," said hermione, "I doubt it'll ever come back to it's old self." Ron nodded sympathetically.

"So, harry, what's on your mind?" asked neville, and harry began explaining about the mission that dumbledore had sent them on.

"...and so we came here to see dumbledore's portrait to see if we can get any additional information about magda allard. but it's important that you tell no-one else about this. I was warned that the danger in this should be considered no less than facing Voldemort."

Neville nodded sternly. "So we go to see dumbledore's portrait, and then what?"

"then we use whatever information we can get to track down Magda Allard."