AN: I think I might be able to finish this story by Christmas. Fingers crossed! I don't think it will be too hard since I know exactly what will happen. All I really need to do is write it down. (Which is sometimes harder than it sounds). I will try to update as much as I can. Some chapters are easier to write than others. Once again anything you recognize is JK Rowling's anything you don't is mine.
I gripped Harry's arm tightly as he apparated us to Hogsmeade. For one wonderful moment I felt like I was home. Then a heart stopping wail tore through the air. Sirius' hand gripped my waist and pulled me against him. Ron pulled out his wand but Harry stopped him.
Death Eaters swarmed the street and raised their wands. One of the Death Eaters raised his wand, and the wailing stopped, still echoing around the distant mountains.
"Accio Cloak!" One of the Death Eaters roared we all held tightly to the cloak, but it made no attempt to escape. The Summoning Charm had not worked on it.
"Not under your wrapper, then, Potter?" yelled the Death Eater who had tried the charm and then to his fellows. "Spread now. He's here."
Six of the Death Eaters ran toward us. The four of us backed as quickly as possible down the nearest side street, and the Death Eaters missed them by inches. We waited in the darkness, listening to the footsteps running up and down, beams of light flying along the street from the Death Eaters' searching wands.
"Let's just leave!" I whispered desperately my knees knocking together. "Disapparate now!"
"Great idea," Ron said but Sirius shook his head, but before Harry could reply, a Death Eater shouted, "We know you are here, Potter, and there's no getting away! We'll find you!"
"They were ready for us," Harry whispered rubbing his scar, "They set up that spell to tell them we'd come. I reckon they've done something to keep us here, trap us—"
"What about dementors?" Another Death Eater called. Sirius stiffened beside me and pulled me tight against him.
"Let'em have free rein, they'd find him quick enough!"
"The Dark Lord wants Potter dead by no hands but his—"
"'An dementors won't kill him! The Dark Lord wants Potter's life, not his soul. He'll be easier to kill if he's been Kissed first!"
No! They knew all of our Patronuses. If any of us tried to protect ourselves they would know it was us.
"We're going to have to try to Disapparate, Harry!" I whispered quickly. I could not let those Dementors anywhere near Sirius. But I could already feel the unnatural cold. It took everything in my to attempt to apparate away. Nothing happened. A sob caught in my throat as ten Dementors silently glided towards us. I tried to pull in a deep breath of air but the ice cold air froze my lungs.
Sirius swayed dangerously next to me and gripped tightly to me. What was the point of killing off the horcruxes? Someone else could do it. The dementors suddenly moved faster, sensing our despair, and started to take gasping, rattling breaths.
Suddenly Harry raised his wand and bellowed, "Expecto Patronum!"
The silver stag burst from his wand and charged: The Dementors scattered and there was a triumphant yell from somewhere out of sight
"It's him, down there, down there, I saw his Patronus, it was a stag!"
The moment the Dementors retreated, the stars started popping out again and the footsteps of the Death Eaters were becoming louder; but before any of us could speak, there was a grinding of bolts nearby, a door opened on the left-side of the narrow street, and a rough voice said: "Potter, in here, quick!"
We obeyed without question and rushed into the room.
"Upstairs, keep the Cloak on, keep quiet!" muttered a tall figure, passing them on his way into the street and slammed the door behind us. I had had no idea where we were, but by the stuttering light of a single candle, I recognized the grubby, sawdust bar of the Hog's Head Inn. We ran behind the counter and through a second doorway, which led to a trickery wooden staircase, that we climbed as fast as they could. The stairs opened into a sitting room with a durable carpet and a small fireplace, above which hung a single large oil painting of a blonde girl who gazed out at the room with a kind of a vacant sweetness.
It was Ariana Dumbledore.
Sirius POV
I glared at Aberforth Dumbledore as he tore the trio's idea of Albus Dumbledore to shreds. Harry, Ron and Hermione stared at Aberforth as he told the story of Ariana Dumbledore. How some Muggle boys had seen her practicing magic and attacked her. After that her magic had been uncontrollable. Since it was uncontrollable she had accidentally killed her mother. When Albus and Grindelwald had decided to The two formed a plan to take over the wizarding world and make Muggles subservient "for the greater good". When Aberforth had found out and went to confront Grindelwald and Albus they had fought about it. Ariana, wanting to help, had started using her magic and in the chaos had died.
"How can you be sure, Potter, that my brother wasn't more interested in the greater good than in you? How can you be sure you aren't dispensable, just like my little sister?"
Harry paled and looked down at the floor.
"I don't believe it. Dumbledore loved Harry," Hermione said her eyes flashing. After everything that had happened with Albus I had to agree. Albus loved Harry and would have done anything to protect Harry. Even let other people die.
"Why didn't he tell him to hide, then?" shot back Aberforth."Why didn't he say to him, 'Take care of yourself, here's how to survive'?"
"Because," I said standing up to glare at the man, "sometimes you've got to think about more than your own safety! Sometimes you've got to think about the greater good! This is war!"
"He's only seventeen!"
"I'm of age, and I'm going to keep fighting even if you've given up!" Harry snapped his eyes flashing.
"Who says I've given up?"
"The Order of the Phoenix is finished," Harry repeated, "You-Know-Who's won, it's over, and anyone who's pretending different's kidding themselves."
"I don't say I like it, but it's the truth!"
"No, it isn't." Ron said standing up. "Your brother knew how to finish You-Know-Who and he passed the knowledge on to us. We're going to keep going until we succeed—or die. Don't think we don't know how this might end. I've known it for years. We all have."
It was quiet for a moment.
"We need to get into Hogwarts," Harry said again his voice thick. "If you can't help us, we'll wait till daybreak, leave you in peace, and try to find a way in ourselves. If you can help us—well, now would be a great time to mention it."
Aberforth stared at Harry for a long moment then turned to Ariana.
"You know what to do," he said.
She smiled, turned, and walked away, not as people in portraits usually did, one of the sides of their frames, but along what seemed to be a long tunnel painted behind her. They watched her slight figure retreating until finally she was swallowed by the darkness.
"Er—what—?" Ron began.
"There's only one way in now," Aberforth sighed. "You must know they've got all the old secret passageways covered at both ends, dementors all around the boundary walls, regular patrols inside the school from what my sources tell me. The place has never been so heavily guarded. How you expect to do anything once you get inside it, with Snape in charge and the Carrows as his deputies . . . well, that's your lookout, isn't it? You say you're prepared to die."
"But what . . . ?" Hermione said, frowning at Ariana's picture.
A tiny white dot reappeared at the end of the painted tunnel, and now Ariana was walking back toward them, growing bigger and bigger as she came. But there was somebody else with her now, someone taller than she was, who was limping along, looking excited.
Then the whole thing swung forward on the wall like a little door, and the entrance to a real tunnel was revealed. And out of it, his hair overgrown, his face cut, his robes ripped, clambered the real Neville Longbottom, who gave a roar of delight, leapt down from the mantelpiece. I looked over the boy-turned-man. He looked so different!
He jumped forward, embraced Harry and yelled, "I knew you'd come! I knew it, Harry!"
AN: Please Review! It helps so much more than you realize. Every review you guys give me motivates me to update sooner. If you love or even like this story please just shoot me a review or a PM.