CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: Aberforth Dumbledore

The air was still, a new layer of fluffy white snow covered the streets of Hogsmead. Not a soul dared to venture outside the doors of their warm and cozy abodes. Night had fallen. The peace was suddenly broken when a high screeching noise filled the air. Bangs followed and shouts began.

Evangeline sat up quickly, her hair wild and tangled from sleep, and from Draco's fingers. Outside the walls of their little room she could hear the calls.

"COME OUT 'ERE POTTTER!"

She shook Draco awake and looked out the window. Draco sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and joined her. The sofa groaned under their change in position.

"He's here!" Evangeline gasped. Draco scowled.

"You're not going to invite Potter up here are you?" he asked sourly. Evangeline 'tsked' at him, shooting him a fond look.

"Just give him a chance, Harry's not that bad."

Draco rolled his eyes.

The screeching stopped and they waited. In the street below they could see the Death Eaters running about with their wands drawn and calling for Harry. Then the screeching came again, and three figures ran towards the Hogs Head. Evangeline could see one had long curly hair, another flaming red, and the third had unkempt black hair. She jumped up from the sofa and ran across the room. Her hand was on the doorknob when Draco spoke.

"Leaving so soon?"

Evangeline turned around.

"I have to let them know I'm alive," she replied. Draco gave her a 'no? Really?' look and opened up his arms to her. Evangeline smiled and a faint blush appeared on her cheeks. Of course, he wanted a goodbye. She went back to him and wrapped her arms around his lean torso. Burying her face in his chest.

"I won't be gone long," she said, "I'll come back."

"You should stay with your friends."

Evangeline looked up at him, her blue eyes searching his for the reason behind his words.

"But you hate my friends."

"I never said I hated them," he told her with an eye roll. "I dislike them, a lot."

Evangeline scoffed and smirked at him. "I knew you had a soft spot for them."

"Doesn't mean I'll spend time with them."

"We'll see."

Draco opened his mouth to respond, but Evangeline stopped him by covering his lips with her own and wrapping her arms around his neck. It was a goodbye kiss. She parted her lips and allowed Draco entrance to her mouth, their tongues danced. Fire raced down her spine, settling deep within her. She moaned, pulling him closer in order to feel more of him. His hand wound a knot in her hair.

She bit his lower lip and he growled, pressing her body closer to his, until it seemed like they never ended. Evangeline pulled away breathless, resting her forehead against him, and looking into his gray eyes. They were dark, full of desire and pain. He didn't want her to go. But knew stopping her would be futile. Evangeline licked her lips, pressing a chaste kiss to his.

"I- I can't remember if I told you this before . . ." she stared at him, hoping that her words would be welcomed, and returned. "I love you."

"My Angel," he said fondly, playing with a strand of her black hair, wrapping it around his elegant fingers. "I love you, too."

Evangeline smiled at him. A blush spreading across her cheeks, he leaned down and kissed her this time. "Stay safe."

"I will."

Evangeline pulled out of his embrace, and looked at the bed were Verity lay curled in the blankets.

"What about Verity?"

"I'll stay here and watch her . . . if anything happens though, I'll ward the room and tell the owner to watch her," said Draco. Evangeline nodded, and went to the door. She looked back at him one last time and left.

Her feet carried her down the narrow staircase and into a small room where a warm fire was lit in the fireplace, and four people were gathered. The moment she entered they all turned. Hermione looked tired, as did Ron and Harry. But when they saw her they came alive.

"EV!" Hermione shrieked. She ran to her and almost knocked her to the floor with her hug. "I thought that they killed you! When Harry told me that you got left behind I was sure of it!"

"Well, I'm here now," Evangeline wheezed, her ribs slowly being crushed by the sheer force of Hermione's hug. "Hermione, AIR!"

Hermione pulled away with an apologetic look. Harry and Ron looked at her with shock. Evangeline couldn't blame them. She had also thought that she was going to die that day. Especially when Voldemort had been that close to her, right in her face, touching her. She could feel the air around him drop by ten degrees. If it hadn't been for Verity, she would be dead.

"How did you get away?" Harry asked.

"Well," Evangeline began, thinking quickly. She wasn't about to tell them that she had Voldemort's daughter upstairs and Draco Malfoy, who she had been snogging for the past day or so. "I figured that if You-Know-Who was the only one able to apparate out of the manor, then so could I. Being distantly related to him and all . . ."

"Brilliant!" beamed Ron. "I bet he never saw it coming!"

Evangeline laughed nervously. "Yeah . . . ." Harry frowned at her, giving her an odd look. She knew he didn't believe her story, but he wasn't going to say anything, yet. "So. What are you three, er, four up to?"

She noticed that the barkeeper was giving her an odd look too. He knew who was upstairs, just not their names. His gray hair, and blue eyes were startling familiar to the late Albus Dumbledore's.

"We need to get into the castle," Harry said.

"You'll do no such thing," said the barman. "you've got to get as far away from here as you can."

"You don't understand. There isn't much time. We've got to get to the castle. Dumbledore - I mean, your brother - wanted us-"

Evangeline gasped, gripping the edge of the old table as the barman's face became stony.

"My brother Albus wanted a lot of things," he said, "and people had a habit of getting hurt while he was carrying out his grand plans. You get away from this school, Potter, and out of the country if you can. Forget my brother and his clever schemes. He's gone where none of this can hurt him, and you don't owe him anything."

She felt dizzy with all that was just laid before her. All of what he'd just said. He was Dumbledore's brother. She didn't know he had a brother. She had always thought that the old wizened wizard had never had a family. But why was he telling Harry to stop? After all that they had been through, and all that they'd done?

Was it anger that was now boiling in her? Had she really just wasted a year of her life to try and get rid of Voldemort? That could not be the answer, it couldn't just end like that!

"But he'll win," she whispered. The barman looked over at her, a sneer written on his face.

"Oh? And what have you been doing about it then? Hiding upstairs on one of my rooms until Potter can come and save you?"

"It's not like that!"

"Well, it seems to me that it is," he sneered bitterly. "My brother only uses people to get what he needs done, no matter the cost to the person. You think that you all know him so well, but he used you."

"How can you say that?" Hermione asked.

"I know my brother, you think you know him so well?"

Harry looked like he wanted to protest, but he kept his mouth shut, glaring at his feet.

"I knew my brother," he went on, "he learned secrecy at our mother's knee. Secrets and lies , that's how we grew up, and Albus . . . he was a natural." His eyes strayed to the painting over the mantelpiece. It was the only picture in the room, of a young girl.

"Mr, Dumbledore," Hermione said timidly. "Is that your sister? Ariana?"

"Yes," he said tersely, "been reading Rita Skeeter, have you, Missy?"

Hermione turned red with embarrassment. Harry leapt to her defense.

"Elphias Doge mentioned her to us," he said.

Mr. Dumbledore scowled, turning his eyes on each of them, his blue eyes burning as he seemed to actually know what they were all thinking. Just like Albus Dumbledore when he talked to you. Evangeline couldn't hold his gaze, it was all too familiar to Albus Dumbledore's. The man she had seen killed right before her very eyes.

"When my sister was six years old, she was attacked, set upon, by three Muggle boys. They'd seen her doing magic, spying through the back garden hedge: She was a kid, she couldn't control it, no witch or wizard can at that age. What they saw scared them, I expect. They forced their way through the hedge, and when she couldn't show them the trick, they got a bit carried away trying to stop her from doing it."

Evangeline covered her mouth with her hand as Hermione stared at him wide eyed. Ron looked sick and Harry watched with pity in his gaze. Mr. Dumbledore stood and faced the painting, his fists shaking in anger.

"It destroyed her, what they did: She was never right again. She wouldn't use magic, but she couldn't get rid of it; it turned inward and drove her mad, it exploded out of her when she couldn't control it, and sometimes she was strange and dangerous. But mostly she was sweet and scared and harmless.

"And my father went after the bastards that did it," he said, "and attacked them. And they locked him up in Azkaban for it. He never said why he'd done it, because if the Ministry had known what Ariana had become, she'd have been locked up in St. Mungo's for good.

"We had to keep her safe and quiet. We moved house, put it about that she was ill, and my mother looked after her, and tried to keep her calm and happy.

"I was her favorite," he said like a child being given a lollipop the size of his head, "not Albus, he was always up in his bedroom when he was home, reading his books, and counting his prizes, and being his usual over achieving busy-body." He scowled angrily. "She would do what I asked, I got her to eat when she wouldn't do it for my mother . . . but when she was fourteen- I should have been there - I could've calmed her down. She had one of her rages and my mother wasn't as young as she used to be, and it . . . was an accident. Ariana couldn't control it. But my mother was killed."

Evangeline felt her knees become weak, a sick feeling welled up in her stomach.

"I told Albus I would stay home and take care of her, I didn't really care about school. But he insisted, told me to finish my education and that he'dtake over from my mother. He did alright for a few weeks . . . till he came."

A dangerous look crept over his face.

"Grindelwald. And at last my brother had an equal to talk to, someone just as bright and talented as he was. And then looking after Ariana took a backseat then, and after a few weeks of that, I'd had it. I put my foot down and I told him so, like I'm telling you now. He couldn't take her with him, and he didn't like that," he said. "Grindelwald didn't like that at all. He got angry. He told me what a stupid little boy I was, trying to stand in the way of him and my brilliant brother . . . didn't I understand, poor sister wouldn't have to be hidden once they'd changed the world, and led the wizards out of hiding, and taught the Muggles their place?"

Evangeline grimaced, seeing how this was all too similar to what Voldemort was trying to do. Had he gotten the idea from Grindelwald himself? To create a world where only magical purebloods ruled and Muggles had to be put in their places?

"-There was an argument . . . and I pulled out my wand, and he pulled out his, he used the Cruciatus Curse on me - Albus tried to stop him, and then all three of us were dueling, and the flashing lights and bangs set her off, she couldn't stand it-" the color was draining from his face as though he was suffering a mortal wound and reliving it all at once. "- I think she wanted to help, but she didn't know what she was doing, I don't know which one of us did it, it could have been any of us - she was dead."

Hermione was sobbing as he sank into a chair, his voice breaking at the last word, Ron looked as pale as he did. Harry gripping the arms of his chair with a look of revulsion. Evangeline could feel herself shaking, warm tears running down her face. Mr. Dumbledore whipped his sleeve across his face and cleared his throat. She didn't want to hear any more.

"Grindelwald left, he didn't want her death on his record, he already had one in his country. And Albus was free, free of the burden of his sister, free to become the greatest-"

"He was never free," Harry said quietly.

"I beg your pardon?" he asked.

"Never," said Harry. "The night your brother died, he drank a potion that drove him out of his mind. He started screaming, pleading with someone who wasn't there. 'Don't hurt them, please . . . hurt me instead.'" She stared at him, having never heard this part of the events that night. "He thought he was back there, I know he did. He thought he was watching Grindelwald hurting you and Ariana . . . It was torture to him, if you'd seen him then, you wouldn't say he was free."

Mr. Dumbledore seemed lost in thought, so Harry took his chance to speak again.

"We need to get into Hogwarts," he said, "if you won't help us, we'll wait till daybreak and leave you in peace and try to find a way in ourselves."

Mr. Dumbledore stared at Harry seemingly lost in thought, until he cleared his throat and stood. He approached the portrait of Ariana

"You know what to do," he said.

She smiled, turned, and walked away, down a winding path within the painting, until she disappeared. Ron stared at the painting with a confused look.

"There's only one way now, the school is guarded and the old passageways are all sealed off," he told them. By now Evangeline could see Ariana returning, her image growing as she walked towards them, but there was someone else with her. They were taller than she was and limping along behind her. His hair was incredibly long and he sported several gashes to his face, his clothing was ripped and torn. Then the painting swung forward from the wall like a door and the entrance to a tunnel was revealed.

And out clambered the real Neville Longbottom, who yelled with delight and leapt down to hug them, "I knew you'd come! I knew it, Harry!"

"Neville!" Evangeline greeted when he hugged her. His face could be seen clearer now and he had a yellow and purple bruise on one of his eyes.

"What happened?" Harry asked.

"What? This? This is nothing!" he said with a shake of his head. "You should see Seamus, he's worse. Shall we get going then? Oh," he turned to Mr. Dumbledore, "Ab, there might be a couple more people on the way."

Ab? Evangeline wondered, she really did need to ask his name. Mr. Dumbledore looked at Neville with a sigh.

"Couple more?" he repeated ominously. "What do you mean a couple more, Longbottom?"

"They'll be apparating directly to the bar, just send them down the passage when they get here, will you? Thanks a lot."

Neville helped Hermione and Evangeline climb up onto the mantelpiece and into the tunnel, and he followed. The stones were smooth, brass lights hung on the walls and the earthy floor was worn and smooth. Evangeline turned to Hermione who was beside her.

"Who was that?" she asked. "Mr. Dumbledore? His name?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "That was Aberforth, Albus Dumbledore's younger brother. Didn't you read the book?"

This chapter was a challenge to write. So I don't like it. End of Story. But hopefully the next chapter will be better! Mwahahaha! And thank you all for the reviews! They are awesome. Not feeling to well today, so I'll get to reviews later. ~Ciao