Disclaimer: I don't remember what I wrote so, better look for it on the first chapter ;P
A/N 1: I think it's been some chapters since the last time I remembered to say you all that I LOVE your comments 'cause they show me you really enjoy my story and that's what I like the most!!!
A/N 2: This time I have to specially thanks someone else: Lady Mary Tudor, who offered herself to be the beta reader of my HP's fics, and she insisted so much that I finally accepted XD. You'll notice it 'cause you won't find my usual spelling or grammar mistakes anymore; so I'm sure those who always remember me that I'm not English will be very happy to read my revised texts.
Thank you, Claudia!!!
A/N 3: I think I hadn't anything else to say so, just enjoy the chapter and review it, please!!!
XXXOOO
Her sin – 15 – The key
"Maybe we're late" Rolanda said, "maybe they've moved somewhere else."
"No, this is the right place. We just have to find the house…"
"But… Albus, the house could be guard by many spells, we may have already been in front of it during the weeks we've spent here and not been able to see it!" Alastor replied tired of walking around the Glasgow forests.
"That's why we have to investigate every inch of the land… If we could just see someone appearing from nowhere then we would know where the house is…"
"This is useless, Albus… He's not that stupid… Tom's clever enough to think about every possibility…"
"I think not that much, Hooch!" Aberforth suddenly shouted from a few steps ahead. "Come here, guys! I found what we're looking for…"
"You found the house?!" Rolanda quizzed.
"Is it Voldemort?" Alastor wondered.
"Is there Minerva?" Albus asked.
"No… it's this…" he moved a little to let everybody see a scripture on the bark of an old tree.
"What the hell is this?" Moody cursed.
"It's a message… from Poppy…"
"No, it's not… it's a stupid heart on a tree, Abe!" Albus spoke.
"…but Poppy did it."
"What?" Rolanda stepped closer to the tree "She didn't."
"Of course she did! It's her heart, I can prove it!"
Two months ago…
Poppy Pomfrey left for her weekly walk in the forest, but this time it wasn't just to find her medicinal plants… She put on her cloak and also took a basket with some sandwich and a cake she'd cooked the last evening. After having crossed the school gate, she uncovered her face and looked around her, but nobody seemed to be there. Suddenly, some hands covered her eyes; she turned around, and met those lips she'd been waiting for.
"This can't be right…" she said while she charmed a tablecloth on the ground.
"What?"
"…you know… meeting each other… dating and having fun while… I feel so guilty thinking about how great I feel with you while my best friend is probably having a horrible time and your brother is dying to get her back…" Some tears slide down Poppy's eyes at that moment. Aberforth slowly approached her, carefully drying those wet signs of her guilt and tenderly embraced her.
"I understand how you feel, my dear…but I'm sure Mina would love to know you're so happy…"
"Oh, I'd swear she would… She and Ro have always been trying to find… you know, 'someone' for me… but I'm too shy to meet other wizards and try to like them…"
"You don't seem shy to me…"
"That's because you've been the key for my heart…"
Aberforth took out his wand and touched the engraving… in the middle of the drawn heart a lock appeared.
"How did you know that?" Rolanda asked.
"I told you… it's hers…"
"Can you open it?" Alastor wondered.
The young Dumbledore hesitated for a while… He wasn't wrong, it was Poppy's heart… but he wasn't really sure of what would be the key to open it…
"How many tries do you think I have?"
"Maybe three… it is always three…" the only woman of the group noticed.
Aberforth moved closer to the tree's bark and whispered "Poppy" but nothing happened.
"Pops is not that selfish… she'd never put her own name in her heart…" Rolanda pointed out.
"She obviously left this for us… the key must be what we all are looking for…" Albus spoke.
So, Aberforth breathed hard and faced the heart again "Minerva." The tree took his breathing back to his nose but nothing else happened.
"You knew it was her heart… How could you?" Rolanda asked.
"'Cause… I don't know… I felt something calling…" he suddenly realized "…Me!" he cleared his throat, crossed his fingers, closed his eyes and whispered "Aberforth."
"Oh my Gosh!" he heard Rolanda exclaim, "You've bedded Pops!"
"I'm afraid now is not the time to discuss it," Albus pointed out putting his hand into the little hole that the heart had showed them after it opened itself, and taking out a piece of paper.
"What is it?"
"It looks like a…" Albus opened it up "… a map! Here's the city… the river… the forest… look! She's marked the house were they are…"
"Ok… you were right, bro… are you happy now?" Aberforth said like when they were children.
"Maybe…" Albus said, and then he continued, "There are instructions… It's Minerva's handwriting!" He smiled and then read, "'Be there at 7:30 pm.' what time is it now?" He looked at Moody, who took out a very strange watch from his pocket and said it was 4 pm. "We have time, come on!"
"Do you feel better?" Poppy asked putting another pillow under Minerva's back.
"I am… your potion really helped me but… Pops… that stab was like the pain I felt when you came… Is anything wrong with my baby again?"
"No, honey… nothing's wrong…"
"You said you wouldn't lie to me… why are you lying to me? Poppy, please…"
"Look… I'm afraid the baby has placed itself to go out again…"
"Everything has been okay for all these weeks…"
"I know, but it seems it wants to come out anyway…" She forced a smile but avoided her friend's look.
"...but I'll only be just about seven months next week... You have to do something! Put it back like you did last time!"
"I can't, honey… not this time… It's too big, I… I could really hurt you if I force the baby to move… The only thing I can do is keep it in the most time you can resist… This is why I need you to be calm and rest still… We'll take this baby out alive, Min, I promise…"
"Do you see anything?" Aberforth asked from behind the big stone where he was hidden with Rolanda.
"Nothing," Alastor whispered from behind the tree he was using as a shield.
"There!" Hooch yelled pointing to a floating leg that suddenly appeared, followed by the body of a young blonde haired wizard.
"But there's still no house…" Aberforth pointed out.
"It's not 7:30 yet… let's wait… If the time they told us is 7:30, it must be because the right person will leave the house at that moment… We won't see the house until the secret-keeper leaves it…"
They waited for nearly an hour, and when it was the time exactly the four of them were staring at void in the middle of the fields. Then, it happened, a group of wizards, this time covered by their cloaks and some kind of masks, left the big mansion that suddenly appeared behind them… Moody, Hooch, and the two Dumbledores stood amazed for a while…
"How are we going to know who's the guard keeper of all of them?" Alastor quizzed.
"It's obvious… Riddle must be in the group… he doesn't trust anybody…"
"What do we do now?"
"Easy, go in!" Rolanda spoke.
"We can't!" Moody advised, "We don't know how much time they spend out of the house… it's obvious that this is a kind of routine… so if we wait just a day we'll be able to calculate how much time we'll have to fight…"
"…but…" Albus replied.
"Look… I've been in many rescues… There's just one opportunity… He won't give you a second chance to find her…"
"I agree with him," Aberforth said, "I prefer to wait one more day than to cry for her death…"
"Alright… just a day…"
TO BE CONTINUED…