Albus Dumbledore shivered as he used his good hand to pull his hood tighter against the chill of the night as he ducked under the snow covered archway. He smiled briefly as he looked around the graveyard. The whole area was covered in fresh snow that sparkled in the moonlight. He was faintly surprised to see a ghost walking along the graves. He'd expected the place to be empty this time of night, he hadn't counted on ghosts for company. He smiled as he noticed the footprints the 'ghost' was making. He thought, 'Ah perhaps not a ghost after all.' He coughed politely to get the girl's attention. "A little late for a nighttime stroll isn't it Miss Rosenberg?" His eyes twinkled with amusement as he watched his student spin around in surprise. Her body faded even further until little but her face could be seen.

Gabrielle was more than a little surprised that she had been spotted at all let alone the fact that Dumbledore still seemed to be looking right at her. She might not have been putting her full concentration on maintaining her invisibility but it had been years since she had had to in order stay invisible to most demons and magic users. She knew from her dad's stories that Professor Dumbledore had been able to tell when someone was under her father's cloak but she had always just assumed that it was some vague sense that something was hidden, apparently not. Her ghostly form slowly bled into color and form as she relaxed her magic. "What gave me away?"

"Ghosts normally don't leave foot prints."

"Rats, I'll have to keep that in mind for next time I'm sneaking around a snow covered graveyard."

Professor Dumbledore looked down his long crooked nose at her, "One could ask why a young lady such as yourself is sneaking around graveyards."

Gabrielle fiddled with the edge of her cloak, trying to stall for time as she tried to get her thoughts in order. "I was just reminded how strange life can be."

He nodded as he realized that she was looking at James and Lily's grave. "Come to pay your respects?"

Gabrielle nodded, "It's weird, before the start of the year I'd only ever been to this world once, I'm beginning to understand why."

Albus raised an eyebrow.

Gabrielle shook her head sadly, "I don't think my dad truly likes it here. There are parts he likes but on the whole… The muggle world was marred by the Dursleys, Hogwarts was marred by Voldemold's continued existence and the looming danger. I was so happy to be able to go to a real school with other children my age that I didn't even think what coming back to the school would be like for him. Sort of selfish of me, wasn't it?" She sighed, "Anyways, I didn't understand that even in a school of magic I was still going to be different." She smiled sadly as she conjured a pair of roses with a flourish of her hand. She carefully set the white rose on Lily's grave and the black on James's . "You must think I'm silly for putting flowers on graves of people I know still exist."

He smiled, "Just because someone is physically gone doesn't mean they are removed from our hearts. It is our choices that make us who we truly are. I don't think silly people would show as much loyalty to family and friends as you have. You chose to stand up for your friend even though you knew doing so would make it harder on yourself." He leaned down slightly as he grinned, "And just between you and me, being normal is highly overrated."

Gabrielle smiled, "Thanks Professor. I shall leave you to pay your respects." She smiled as she headed back toward the house feeling curiously lighter of mood.

"Thank you."

She called back over her shoulder, "Mom says dinner is at three o'clock."

Albus's smile almost slipped as his damaged hand twitched painfully, he allowed himself a brief look to check how much the blackened flesh had spread up his arm before allowing his sleeve to fall back over the blackened flesh. He had barely finished running his good hand over his sister's gravestone when he heard a faint crack like muted thunder behind him.

Snape glanced around in distaste at the snow. He looked around the familiar graveyard with a grimace. "You called?"

Dumbledore inclined his head, "How are our preparations coming for my death?"

"Well enough to leave the wizarding world shocked when the great and powerful Albus Dumbledore doesn't return to the school after the new year." Snape noted with some sarcasm.

"You and I both know that my time is almost at an end. Just promise me you'll keep the castle safe."

Snape nodded, "As always, I'll do my duty."

Gabrielle jerked herself out of her wandering thoughts as she came to the edge of the wall surrounding her new home. Her hand trembled slightly as she raised her hand and touched the stone wall. In her head she knew that the wards that had hurt so much had been taken down and that there were just a few temporary wards in place that wouldn't do anything to her but it was hard to convince her heart that she wasn't going to get another blast of evil magic for stepping through the wards.

She glanced balefully at the gate before pulling her magic around herself as carefully as she could to hide her from sight and smell. She glanced up at the top of the rather large wall. "Stupid anti-flying magic wards, even dumber anti-teleportation wards." Contrary to this world's anti-apparition wards that she could slip through without a problem the house's anti-apparition, anti-teleportation, anti-phasing and anti a bunch of other things wards actually could keep her from using magic to cross the walls. She sighed before taking a running leap at the top of the large wall. She barely caught the top of the wall with her fingers. Before her hands could protest too much at the contact with the cold stone she pulled herself up onto the top of the wall.

'This is the last time I sneak out the night before a full moon when were-creatures are running around the yard.' She smiled as she caught sight of a group of large animals playing in the snow. They looked harmless from this distance but she knew that if she was spotted Lupin and Harry would have their paws full trying to stop Trista from trying to kill her. She frowned as she tried to place the various creatures. The large white wolf in front stalking around the snow was surely Lupin, the smaller wolf following him around like a little puppy had to be Trista. She grinned as she recognized her father's large black wolf form rolling around in the snow. Her gaze was drawn to the rather large orange tiger. Seeing her mom's animagus form always made her think of Sylvie. 'I should probably get back before the rest of them notice I'm gone.'