Hey guys, here's a new chapter for you. I made it really long for you since it was such a long wait. Like I said, it's taking a while to get chapters out but they will be coming to you sooner or later. Thank you so much for your patience!

Okay, here we go.

We were all sitting in the tent, wrapped tightly in blankets, and crammed near the small stove; the plan of sneaking into Hogwarts wasn't going as well as we originally hoped. All the entrances were being watched to the grounds, that much had always been obvious and we needed to find a way to either get over the wall of through the gates without being seen.

So our only-yeah, as if that made it any easier-question was what way to take?

"I think out best bet is to apporate into Hogsmeade and then just hike up the hill from there. It isn't the most fool proof plan but it's the best we've got, I think." Harry explained.

"Yes, but all of us won't be able to fit under the invisibility cloak." Red said. "Me and you can barely fit under there together. How are four of us supposed to do it?"

We all lapsed into silence, thinking out how to get around this obstacle now. Couldn't anything just be easy? Get from point A to point B without having to make a plan that involved avoiding capture and death? Hell no, not when you were us.

I tapped my fingers on my arm as I tried to think of a way. "I could take Hermione with me." I finally spoke up. My friends looked my way with various shades of confusion on their face. I continued on. "Hermione can go piggy back and I'll just run up there. I haven't exactly vampire ran in a while but I'm sure I'm getting pretty fast…maybe I'm fast enough to be undetectable or, at least, just a blur."

Hermione, Harry, and Ron exchanged glances. "It doesn't seem like we have many other options…but do you think you can still go fast and go that far with me on your back?" Hermione asked.

I smiled and let out a small chuckle. "Oh, sweetie, I can take you to China and back if you want. I ain't slowing down for anyone not even your skinny ass." I winked.

"Well let's test it out then." Harry said.

I shrugged. "Fine by me."

The four of us walked out of the tent and stood along the shoreline near the lake. I stepped forward, dragging Hermione by the wrist with me. "Alright, let's piggyback this shit."

She raised an eyebrow. "You really do have a terribly dirty mouth, Allie."

This caused me to laugh. "That's what you get when you live with werewolves." My laugh soon evaporated as I thought of what exactly I had just said…werewolves…Jake. We had been so busy the last couple of days-you know, with the incident at Malfoy Manner, the almost dying thing, then the whole planning to break into Gringotts, and then actually breaking into Gringotts-that I haven't even had time to miss my guardian.

But now I did miss him, but I didn't have time to dwell on it, not when we were already setting in motion the beginning of the end to this whole story. I blinked back tears as I turned my attention back to Hermione. I smiled at her slightly before motioning her to jump on my back. She seemed hesitant at first but once I set her with a look that screamed 'if you don't do this I am gonna kick your ass' she moved a little quicker.

The girl counted to three before jumping. I caught her legs and eased her into a position that did not hurt my back; her weight was practically undetectable thanks to my vampire strength. "Alright, let's do this."

The next instant, I start running….really fucking fast. Like, I had never ran that fast before in my life, plus I had Hermione on my back. The whole thing startled me and I skidded to a stop.

"What's wrong?" I heard Harry's voice from a distance, yelling. I spun with Hermione still on my back to see that we were at least a quarter mile away; I had only started running a second earlier.

"I'm not sure." I yelled back. I tilted my head back to Hermione. "You okay back there?"

The girl was silent for a second. "No, I think I am going to be sick." The next thing I know, she jumped off me and ran to upchuck behind a nearby tree. I went over quickly to hold her hair.

"Aww, 'Mione, I am so sorry." I apologized, feeling absolutely awful. "I didn't realize that I could go that fast."

She was a little busy at the moment and couldn't talk but I knew she wanted to kill me.

"What was that?" I turned my head to see the boys running up to us. "I mean, one minute you were there the next you were way over here. I thought you said you weren't that fast." Ron said, coming to a halt and peeking around me. "Hermione!"

He pushed me out of the way and knelt down beside the very pale looking girl. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pushed her hair out of her face. I looked from them to Harry and smiled at him before wrapping my arms around his waist.

It was so totally obvious that Red was head over heels for Hermione and if she wasn't so busy puking I knew she'd be blushing her cute little head off. "So stinking cute." I whispered to Harry.

I heard the rumble of a chuckle in his chest and saw him shake his head. I know he wasn't as sold that the two were completely in love with each other as I was but I think he was warming up to the idea. It must have been weird, I guess, to see your two best friends become…well, more than best friends.

Hermione finally stopped throwing up and was now standing weakly against the tree.

"Let's not do that again." She said with a shaky voice.

I nodded my agreement. "I don't know what happened…it's like I'm the frickin' road runner or something…the change must be happening quicker now, I guess."

"So you don't think you can control it? Your running?" Harry asked.

I thought for a moment. Could I control this new development? Was it coming on too quickly for my body to handle? I wasn't sure. What I was sure of, however, was that it was happening because of all the stress my body had been under…it was like an adrenalin rush for vampires. I eventually nodded. "I think I can…not sure I can do in with puking girl on my back but I should be okay." I paused. "Maybe she should switch places with one of you boys? The one with the stronger stomach perhaps?"

Almost in unison, Harry, Hermione, and I all glanced over at Ron. He stared back at us, looking intently into our eyes, and then sighed. "Oh, bloody hell. Here we go again."

So, we practiced. This time, with Red going piggyback riding and I running slower, at a pace that did not freak either of us out…well, not too much anyway. We practiced for an hour before I felt comfortable enough to do this in Hogsmeade when we had a mission.

"So, that's it?" Hermione said. "We're going tonight with Ronald riding on Allie's back and Harry and I under the cloak?"

I looked at Harry before shrugging.

"It's half-assed, Hermione, and I think we all realize that but we need to get into Hogwarts tonight." I explained.

"Allie's right. He knows that we are going after the horocruxes and he going to try and get them, to keep them safe before we can destroy them. I know there is one in Hogwarts and we need to get to it before he does." He paused. "We just have to."

She nodded. "I know…but it doesn't make me feel any easier about this."

"Are any of us comfortable with this?" Red asked rhetorically.

We stood around for a moment, realizing that we very well could die during the course of events that were to come. Harry and I were in serious danger, that much was obvious, but what I was still really wrestling with was the idea that, because of us, Red and Hermione could die too. To die for us, because of us, was not okay with Harry or me but the two of them would not hear about it.

They said we were in this together.

And now we couldn't go back on that.

"Okay, it's time." Harry finally said quietly.

The tent was packed up all snug inside of Hermione's beaded bag and stuck inside her sweatshirt. We were all bundled up in sweaters, ready to bear the colder temperatures in Hogsmeade. There was nothing left to do but go.

I grabbed Harry's hand and smiled over at him; he did the same, an uncertain twinkle resonated in his green eyes.

He didn't know what was going to happen. I didn't know what was going to happen. No one really did.

All there was to do was…well, do it.

Hermione latched hands with me, springing me from my thoughts, before taking Red's hand too. We stood for a moment, looking out at the water before us. I don't know what we were necessary looking at-trying to just find something to stall for time probably-but we stood silently and let the complete understanding of our situation wash over us.

This hell was over. One way or another.

"Alright, let's go." Harry said. He looked down at me and nodded.

I returned the gesture before smiling over at Hermione who then gave one to Ron.

Through the craziness and uncertainty we still had friends. It wasn't much but it was something, something to keep our heads on straight and keep us moving. I squeezed Harry's hand a little tighter and we were off.

I don't know what happened.

One second we were in the apporation and the next thing I know an unnaturally loud noise crashes into my ears and vibrates all the way through my skull until it reaches my brain and rings until I feel like my head is hemorrhaging.

I looked over at Harry and instantly knew that we were in deep shit. Our plan wouldn't work…we weren't expecting to be caught so soon.

The alarm blared in my ears at the same time as a spooky feeling crept over me, one that made me forget about my agonizing ears. My eyes automatically went up to see Dementors flying towards us, like a black cloud in a thunderstorm.

"Run!" Red yelled from behind us. He grabbed Hermione and my hand in each of his and started running.

I looked back just in time to see Harry point his wand up toward the sky and release his stag patronous loose on the Dementors. The bright light erupted in front of them and they instantly scattered, trying to find sanctuary from the blinding light of the spell. Harry's patronous then galloped away, down a side street, and disappeared out of sight.

"Hey, what's goin' on out there!"

"It's Potter! There is his patronous!"

My eyes went to Harry again and urged him to catch up. He sprinted over to us and grabbed my hand tightly in his before we started our escape again. We made it a foot before I heard a nearby door open and the scrambling of feet exiting. There had to be at least five of them, running out into the streets, hunting us down.

"Turn left!" I whispered up at Ron who was leading us. He did as instructed when we came to the alley and continued on. Just then, I heard a door open ahead of us and knew we were in deeper shit that I previously thought: these guys were really close. I pulled on the collar of Red's shirt, knowing I couldn't say a word without giving our location away to the guys up the road, and turned him around.

I didn't need to explain myself for him to understand what was going on.

"Why don't you lead." Harry whispered to me, causing me to nod my agreement. After all, I was the one with the supersonic hearing and the super speed. It would be really helpful to us now that we were fucking caught in the middle of Hogsmeade.

Man, was I pissed.

We ran back out of the alley and stopped as I listened.

They were coming at us fast…from either side. I noted that the only place to go was an outdoor work area that had tables covered in white sheets; the idea that this was our only means of escaping did not settle well with me but we had no other options.

"Quick, in there!" I grabbed Harry's hand and dragged him under a table, Hermione and Red ducked under the one next to us.

We just made it under when I heard the voices and pounding feet reach us. "They're here." I whispered before putting my finger up to my mouth, silently quieting my friends. Hermione and Red nodded and huddled closer under the table.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are." A voice said with a chuckle.

"We know you're here, boy." Another, gruffer, voice called out.

I grabbed Harry's arm tightly as if they were about to get him.

His hand went up to mine and he began to trace small circles with his thumb as if to reassure me he wasn't going anywhere. The Death Eaters were getting closer to our table, so close that I could feel my vampire sense kicking in and my eyes darkening to a red shade. My hand gripped Harry's arm tighter as I listened.

The footsteps were six feet away, then five, followed by four.

I was just about to pick Harry up and try to make a break for Red and Hermione when the painful sound of the alarm blared through the streets of Hogsmeade again. The men stopped, listening for a second, before I heard them turn and start running in the opposite direction. The four of us waiting a moment, making sure they were gone, before immerging from our hiding places.

Once I listened closely, painfully, passed the alarm to hear that the men were all headed away from us and not towards us I let out a breath of relief that I hadn't realized I had been holding.

I nodded to my friends. "Let's keep moving."

I automatically took the lead again, heading down the twists and turns of the Hogsmeade, trying to figure out where the hell to go next. I took a sharp right the next second when I heard the sound of men heading our way. The street looked familiar to me, as if I had been down this one some other time, and sped down it. I was halfway down the block when I looked back to make sure my friends were still close and I saw that they were still pretty close, maybe only ten feet behind me. They were at a comfortable distance for me and I decided to keep up my pace; I turned back around to the front only to be stopped head on by a man standing in front of me.

I felt an arm go around my waist at the same time as another hand went to my mouth to stop me from screaming and I began to be dragged into a building. I struggled but the man was strong, strangely enough, and he managed to get me inside before letting go.

Once his hands were away, I spun at him, readying myself to attack when I froze dead in my tracks.

It was Dumbledore.

But that was… "Impossible." I breathed the word out.

The man gave me a stern look and pointed his finger at me. "You stay here."

It was all he said to me before going back outside only to pop back in seconds later with Harry, Hermione, and Red in tow. Harry ran up to me and wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me close. "You okay?"

I nodded as I continued to stare at the man. "Harry, it's-" I couldn't even get the words out because of how unreal this situation was. I mean, Dumbledore couldn't be there, Dumbledore was dead, that couldn't be him…could it?

"You-You-You-look like-"

"Now is not the time for that, Miss Cullen." The man explained. "Right now the four of you need to get down in the basement." He pointed in the direction of a stairwell and pushed Hermione, rather roughly, toward it.

Hermione followed orders and flew down the stairs with us close at her heels. The basement was more or less an extension of the room upstairs; it was a bar room complete with tables, fireplace, and plenty of classic bar memorabilia. But something was different about this scene; there was a moving portrait above the mantel of a young girl with dark hair. I couldn't put my finger on it but I knew I had seen her sad face before.

"Stay here and stay quiet." The Dumbledore lookalike barked at us before going back upstairs.

"Where are we?" I asked, as I moved away from Harry and closer to the mantel to study the picture.

"It's the Hogshead." Hermione informed as she moved around the room too. "Owned by-"

"What the bloody hell do you think you are doing running amuck in the middle of the night? People are trying to sleep here!" The man's voice rang out crystal clear, calling out to the Death Eaters roaming the streets.

"What does he think he's doing?" Hermione whispered loud enough for me to hear.

I just shook my head. "I have no clue. All I know is that he's got some serious balls."

"We were chasing a patronous: Potter's stag to be exact." One of the Death Eaters spat.

"You bloomin' idiot! That was my patronous you were seeing." I then heard him mutter something under his breath. "See, it's a goat, not a stag."

It was quiet upstairs for a moment; I held my breath until I heard their conversation start up again. "You know the rules." The Death Eater hissed. "You caused a lot of trouble here tonight. Next time it will be your head, Dumbledore."

It suddenly clicked in my mind who he was then: he was Aberforth, Headmaster Dumbledore's brother. I had read about him in The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore; I should have known right away that the man who helped us and the one in the book were one and the same. I guess there was some part of me that wished it was, in fact, the fallen Headmaster.

We have never needed him more than we do now.

A moment later, the shaggy man descended the staircase with a tray filled with food and drink for us. He looked over at me, shook his head, and went over to the table to set the tray down. Almost instantly, Hermione, Red, and Harry went to the food and began devouring it. I stayed where I was, not feeling hungry-well, for food, anyway-and stared back at the man before me.

"You're Aberforth." I stated the obvious.

"And you are Allie Cullen. Last time I checked, you were dead and buried. What happened? You felt like coming back to life only to face a worse demise than the one handed to you by Draco Malfoy?" His words were emotionless, as if he had little humanity left in him.

"I think we both know I didn't die that night in the tower." I responded.

He took one of the cups of Butterbeer and came over to hand it to me. "I think we both know who did."

I nodded sadly as I looked down at my cup; never in my life had I drank Butterbeer and I sure as hell was not gonna start that night; I would never be that thirsty. "I'm sorry about your brother…I should have done something more."

The man chuckled. "No, you should have done less, girl."

I looked back up at him and wrinkled my forehead in confusion. "How do you mean?"

Aberforth went back over to the table and leaned against it. My eyes went from him to Harry, who had slowed his inhale of food to pay attention to our conversation, then back to Dumbledore.

"You risked your life for my brother; an old man with a god complex and selfish intentions. He never cared about you, about any of you, and you still put his safety before your own." He paused to shake his head. "I understand that you vampires believe you are untouchable but what you did was foolish…even for one of your kind."

I stared at him for a minute; I'm pretty sure my jaw was touching the ground the entire time as I did. For the life of me I could not figure out why he-Aberforth, Dumbledore's younger brother-would say such a thing. I shook my head, clearing it, before closing the gap between me and the man. I stood my ground, at least seven inches below Aberforth, and glared up at him.

"Okay, old timer, let's get a couple things straight." I hissed the words as I raised my hand and placed my pointer finger up. "One, you don't know the first thing about me or others like me so don't go around pretending you do." I raised another finger. "Two, you don't know the first thing about my relationship-or anyone else's, for that matter- with Dumbledore so don't assume things that you can't know." One more finger went in the air. "And three, if Albus had a god complex, then what does that make you? A bitter old man who has family issues and a shitty attitude, that's what." I paused. "Life sucks and we all have problems but that doesn't mean that we can go around barking 'screw the world and everyone in it!' because that would make us selfish bastards like you think your brother to be!"

The room went silent as my words rang through the basement room. I shook my head up at him and took a step back. Our eyes stayed connected, sapphire blue mixing with the ice color, until I saw something on his face that I didn't quite expect.

He started to smile. "You don't have any siblings, do you?" He asked.

I wrinkled my forehead at his strange question and shook my head.

Aberforth nodded. "Could've guessed. Only an only child would say something like that." He walked passed me and pointed up at the portrait above the mantel. "Do you know who this is?"

I looked up at the girl, who, in turn, looked back down at me with a numb look in her painted eye. "No." I answered.

"That's Ariana." Hermione jumped in. My eyes glanced her way to see that her eyes were glued to the painting. "Your sister…She died young, did she not?"

He nodded at Hermione before looking back in my direction. I couldn't help but gasp slightly; the resemblance to Albus was so remarkable. "He was the one responsible for her death." He said offhandedly, as if it were old news.

"You're lying." I snapped back. Yes, it was terrible that their sister died and in such an awful manner-once Hermione mentioned the name I knew instantly who she was and what had happened to her, well, according to Rita Skeeter's book, anyway-but the Headmaster was not to blame and that is exactly what I told him.

He chuckled again, pissing me off. I really hated the condescending way he talked and responded to me, as if I were a child or something. "Listen, Miss Cullen, you asked me to not assume things about your life that I cannot possibly fathom and all I ask is for the same courtesy." He gave me one more ice blue glance before turning to Harry. "Now, what are the four of you doing here in the first place besides causing chaos to erupt? On my brother's orders, I bet."

We all took turns meeting gazes, silently asking if it was okay to tell him or not. My eyes finally landed on Harry and I nodded slightly. Yeah, Aberforth was a pain in the ass and a grump but he was still Dumbledore's brother and I was positive he could be helpful.

"It's-He left us a job." Harry Explained.

"Did he now?" Aberforth's eyebrows rose. "Nice job, I hope? Pleasant? Easy? Sort of thing you'd expect unqualified wizard kids to do without over-stretching themselves."

Whoa, and I thought I was sarcastic…

"I-I" Harry faltered for his words. "It's not easy, no. But we've got to-"

"Got to? Why got to? He's dead, isn't he? Let it go boy, before you follow him! Save yourself!"

Harry's eyes fell to me and I could tell he was starting to feel defeated; I'm pretty sure the younger of the Dumbledore boys had that negative affect on people. He wasn't all rainbows and butterflies, that's for sure. "Note to self: Don't go to him for pep talks." I muttered to myself.

"Listen, we have to do this despite of much you disagree. You helped us escape from the Death Eaters, now won't you help us get into the school?" I asked, letting my usually snippy tone leave my voice. We were desperate, that much I know, and we could not afford to get on Aberforth's bad side…well, not get any worse on his bad side, that is.

Aberforth hesitated for a moment, as if trying to decide to help the annoying girl and her friends, before he looked over at his sister's portrait and nodded. "You know what to do." He said.

The painting nodded before Ariana turned and retreated to the back and kept walking out of sight.

"Thank you, sir." Hermione told him. "We truly appreciate all you have done."

Aberforth nodded before going to the table and begin cleaning the dishes up. He disappeared up the stairs a moment later and stayed there a while longer. When he returned back down the stairs he was carrying one lone goblet in his hand. Aberforth bypassed my friends and came straight to me to hand it over.

"Here," He said, shoving it into my hand. "Drink up or else you will be useless in there. I'm sure you've heard of what's going on at Hogwarts?"

I nodded before looking into the goblet to see that it was filled with a dark red liquid: it was blood. I paused slightly, sniffing it, before looking back up at the remaining Dumbledore. "Is this-?"

"Goat's blood. It's all I have to offer on that front but I assume it will do the trick for you." He shrugged before going back to the stairs. "Drink it or don't drink it. Hell if I care."

I looked back down at the goblet for a moment before taking a sip; I wasn't surprised when it tasted okay, as all animal blood did. It's nowhere near as good as human blood but it kept me strong.

I took another sip.

"Thank you." I called to his retreating back.

I saw the back of his frizzy head nod. "Take care, all of you, especially you Miss Cullen. Merlin knows there is going to be hell to pay when You-Know-Who finds out that you are alive." With those words he disappeared upstairs and was gone.

For some reason, I felt like we would never see him again. He didn't seem the type to help us again, like it was one time and done. I shook my head sadly because I felt sorry for him. He had no family left after Albus died and now he was alone…like me. We were two of a kind, I guess.

Thoughts of Aberforth left my mind as I focused again on the blood in my hand. I put the goblet to my lips and drank it down greedily; it had been a while since I had had anything substantial because, to be honest, hunting time was scarce and unimportant to our cause. The energy the blood gave me began to course through my body and when it was gone I wished I had more…a lot more. But this was fine, I would be fine with this amount of blood. It's just the cravings that are left now.

I set the glass down on the mantel and then looked up at the painting. I turned around, only to do a double take back to the background. "Hey, is that a tunnel?"

Harry, Hermione, and Red came over to further inspect with me. It was indeed a freaking tunnel in the back of the meadow, lighted with torches and lined with brick walls. We all stared at the strange scenery for a moment before a figure emerged, very tiny at first then growing bigger as they came closer.

"She's coming back." Red announced. "And I think someone is with her."

I squinted and I could see the faint outline of a person behind Ariana.

"Who is that?" Hermione asked.

No one knew because no one could see. It was really strange and put the hairs on the back of my neck on edge…it could be anyone…good or bad.

Arianna finally appeared at the front of the portrait with a small smile on her face. The next instant, the portrait swung open and a figure, shaped tall and wide like a man, came forward. He stepped out of the passage behind the portrait and lifted his head.

Holy, hell. "Neville?"

I hope you enjoyed it! Please tell me what you think and thank you for reading!