"Oh." Said Harry, a mixture of relief and resentment etched in his face.

Hermione, however, didn't say a word. Instead she stalked back into the shack, refusing to look at any of them.

"What happened to her?" said Draco.

"You unbelievable prat!" shouted Ron, entering the shack, still invisible to everyone.

"Oh, that must be Weasley..." Draco replied mildly.

Harry removed the Disillusionment Charm, and threw the cloak off himself. "Are you kidding me, Malfoy?!" He followed after Ron, and shut the door behind him. "Where did you-" he started to ask, and then turned around, realizing that Draco didn't come in behind him. Opening the door once more, he grabbed him by the shirt sleeve. "Get in here!"

"Get your filthy hands off of me!" Draco snatched his arm away, and smirked. "You really thought you could get into Hogwarts like that?"

"For your information, we weren't going to Hogwarts!" said Ron defensively.

"Nice try." Draco scoffed. "I knew exactly where you were going."

"Why are you here?" asked Harry, folding his arms over his chest. He walked over to where Hermione was sitting on the bed, and sighed.

"Well, after your friend Weasley and I had a spat...I sort of...went off for a bit."

Ron shot him a look. "Coward..." he muttered under his breath.

For once, Draco ignored the insult, and continued. "The Hog's Head, actually..."

"We met there for the DA..." said Harry, lost in thought. "So, what next?"

"Did you know that Aberforth Dumbledore runs that place?"

Hermione's ears perked up, but she didn't turn to look at him.

"How do we know, that you're not lying, Malfoy?" Ron cut in.

Draco smirked, and pulled a shiny looking object out of his pocket. "Because he gave me this, when I snuck into Hogwarts."

Harry's fingers instinctively went toward the shard of glass in his own pocket. And then Draco's retort actually registered in his mind. His jaw dropped.

"YOU WENT WHERE?!"

Harry whipped around, to see Hermione's astonished figure leap off the bed behind him.

"Hogwarts." Said Draco, who looked much too pleased with himself.

"You've got to be bloody kidding me..." muttered Ron.

"Ron, you know none of us can see you, right?" Harry added.

"Wha...er...oh, right!" Harry tapped him on the head with his wand. "Thanks, Harry..."

Draco sniggered. "So smart, Weasley..."

"DID ANY OF YOU HEAR WHAT MALFOY JUST SAID?!" screamed Hermione.

Ron scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"How exactly did you get into Hogwarts?!" she glared at him.

"I thought I asked you to call me Draco, Hermione..."

Hermione's hand inched towards the wand in her pocket.

"Alright, alright! Would you all just calm down?" Draco said.

"No, we can't calm down!" Ron argued. "D'you know how long 'Mione's been waiting on you to come back? Did you know that's she's been sleeping in your bed ever since you left? Or that she's been crying herself to-"

"That's quite enough!" shouted Hermione, her face red, and her wand out. "We don't have time for any of this; we NEED to get into Hogwarts! Just because-" her voice trailed off and her eyes flickered to Draco, who watched her with both guilt and curiosity. "Besides, we can't simply go into the Forbidden Forest from here, I'm sure Snape's blocked the passageway."

"Hermione's right." Harry said. "We can sort everything out after we get into Hogwarts. Malfoy, you Apparate us out."

Draco blinked. "I don't take orders from you, Pot..." he faltered at the look on both Harry and Hermione's face. He ignored Ron, who looked as though he were about to hex him into an oblivion. "Fine."

"That's what I thought." Harry wrapped the invisibility cloak around them.

"Potter, we're four grown adults under a cloak sized for one teenaged boy." Scoffed Draco. "I really don't think that method's going to work."

Ron swore under his breath, and Harry ignored the both of them. "Just do it, Malfoy."

"Whatever." Draco grabbed Harry's arm, and Ron did the same. Hermione stood still for a moment, watching him. Finally, he caught her eye, and smirked. She looked away briskly, and took Ron's hand. "Let's go." Her voice was slightly muffled...as though she had something caught in her throat.

Draco nodded, and furrowed his brows in concentration. Soon enough, the room began to swirl around them, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione seemed to disappear into the maelstrom of color. In only a few seconds, it subsided into a new scene—outside the Hog's Head.

"What's this?" came Ron's voice.

"The Hog's Head." Said Harry. "Don't you remember when we met here for the DA? Fifth year?"

"Oh, right...Well why'd you Apparate outside then?" he asked.

"Obviously, because Dumbledore's brother probably set an Anti-Apparition charm on the pub. If any of you have read Hogwarts, A History, you would know that other locations can both be unplottable and resistant to Apparition." Hermione cut in.

Ron snickered, and Harry nodded incomprehensibly. "Sure."

"So are we just going to stand here, or..." said Draco.

Harry nodded once more, walking closer to the shabby, old tavern, and knocking firmly on the door.

"Potter, it's a pub, I'm sure the door is open." Draco leered.

Harry glared at him. "I'd rather him come out and greet us, thanks. I'm pretty sure it'd be quite dangerous if three on the run, and one dead wizard were found just bursting in an ordinary pub."

"It hasn't even opened yet!" said Draco.

"Well, that's exactly why he needed to knock." Hermione added, pointedly. "Now, get back underneath the invisibility cloak, Harry."

Harry, however, was staring intently at the same shard of glass in his hand. "The eye..." he muttered.

"What is it, mate?" Ron spoke up.

"Nothing." he lied.

Suddenly, Harry could hear heavy footsteps becoming gradually louder and louder. "Who is there?!" came a loud, gruff voice. He opened the door, slowly, and peeked his head out.

"Aberforth." Said Draco. They exchanged looks.

"Ah." He said, stroking the straggly ends of his grey beard. "Come on in, then..."

Ron, who had stood up to his full height, knocked the cloak off of him and Hermione. "Just...do something with this!" she muttered, balling it up and stuffing it in her bag.

"No need to get your knickers in-"

Hermione looked at him, without saying a single word. "Er...nevermind..."

Aberforth ushered them in quickly, leading them past the bar, and into the back room. Light instantly flooded the room, and he lit a candle with his wand and set it atop a small table near Ariana's portrait. For a moment, they took each other in, in silence.

"I've been expecting you three." Aberforth said finally.

Harry seemed lost in thought. "Are you Dumbledore's brother?"

He nodded briskly. "No, time to explain, I'm sure Draco'll do the talking very soon."

Harry and Ron started meaningfully at Draco, who avoided their eyes.

"Ariana."

"Who's that?" Ron asked bluntly, pointing to the vivacious, young girl in the portrait, clad in robin-eggs blue.

"Come on, Weasley, one cannot be but so daft..." Draco muttered under his breath.

However, neither Aberforth, nor the girl responded. Instead, Ariana disappeared one more into the garden.

Hermione watched her, interestedly. "Where is she going?"

"Spoke too soon..." said Harry, just as Ariana began to walk back. "Hang on..."

"What's going on?" Draco demanded.

Aberforth sighed. "I should have known, they're in school, remember?"

"So?" said Ron.

"So. You dimwitted buffoon, you'll have to be waiting in the Room of Requirement all by your lonesome selves." He glanced at Draco. "I'm sure you'll be fine. Go on." He swung open the portrait hole with one mighty pull, and Draco stepped in, motioning for Ron, Harry, and Hermione to do the same.

"Are you sure we should..." Ron started. "Come on, Ronald!" protested Hermione, pulling him in. "Thank you, Prof...Mr. Dumbledore!"

And with that, the entrance was shut one more, and Aberforth watched the retreating figures of the Golden Trio, Draco Malfoy, and Ariana in the garden. He watched them with those piercing blue eyes, an uneasiness settling down inside of him. Because even the bravest men, can find a bit of grey inside themselves.

Author's Note- Ah, August has finally arrived. Which means that school starts soon. :'( No, actually I quite like school. Except for taking tests. I absolutely despise tests. Like I would legitimately study for hours the night before, as well as several days before the actual exam. But then as soon as a see test paper, I'd be like, "Whaaaaat? (y^2 +9x -87)/(56z) is whaaaaa?!"Anyways, enough about my poor studying methods. How was the chapter? Did you like it? Did it make you feel all happy inside? Please do tell me. Because I have nothing more to do in my life besides read your reviews and write fanfiction. Well, I mean I do other things, but they're irrelevant under the context of this author's note. But right now, I'm pretty tired, and would like to go to sleep quite soon. Which is a strange thing to say, because I usually never actually sleep. But, you know...actually you don't know. And neither do I. So I'm going to shut up now before I write a whole page of random gibberish and delirious nonsense. I know none of you would enjoy reading that...So, bye!