Chapter Fifty Three
"Are you sure it was the Hogshead?" Harry asked, unable to stop pulling at the skin around his nails.
"You were there when Daphne said that's where to go to get to Hogwarts." Hermione said, trying to keep the huff from her voice.
She understood why Harry was struggling so much, May seemed to have come along much quicker than they thought it would.
The sun was just rising, bathing the field they'd been camping in in a soft, golden glow. They'd finished packing up their things, dressed in clothes they could easily run and move freely in.
Draco had his hair caught up in a ponytail with a green scrunchy he'd stolen from Hermione, now was not the time for elegant ribbons that could fall out easily.
Hermione's hair was plaited and then pinned to her head out the way.
Harry's hair had insisted on curling and was still too short to tie up so Hermione had given him a rough hair cut, just enough to keep it from his eyes. It looked awful but it would do the job, he could get it cut properly when all this was over.
A weight of finality hung heavily in the air, passing between the three friends without any of them having to say a word.
"It's been a long few months." Draco said, looking around, "But I'm glad I got to spend them with you both."
Hermione and Harry smiled, pulling one another into a hug. Hermione took a deep breath and turned on the spot, landing them in the Hogshead.
"What was that?" Crabbe senior asked, dropping his spoon back into the bowl of watery porridge.
No matter how bad he purposely made the food, the Death Eaters insisted on eating everyday at the Hogshead.
Aberforth shook his head and grunted, "What are you talking about? Just eat up would you and get out of my pub!"
"I heard it too." Avery hissed, glaring at the barkeeper and rising to his feet, his hand reaching for his Death Eater mask.
Aberforth let out a loud huff, "Don't get up! Just finish up will you and get off. I'll go check. Where did your imagined sound come from?"
"Back room." Crabbe said, slowly starting to eat again, shovelling the food messily into his mouth.
Aberforth hauled himself into the smaller back room, normally used for meetings. It was completely empty apart from Harry, Hermione and Draco standing, frozen still, trying not to make a sound, in the centre of the room.
Aberforth raised his eyebrows and muttered something insulting under his breath, "It's just the cat! You'd think Death Eaters would be a little less jumpy. Gotten yourselves into trouble lately have you?"
Crabbe and Avery said nothing.
"We should check it out ourselves." Avery said quickly, jumping to his feet and marching towards the door, his heavy boots crashing against the floor with every step.
Hermione dragged Harry and Draco into a corner and quickly mumbled a disillusionment charm over the three of them just as Avery roughly pushed Aberforth out the way, bursting into the room.
"There's no cat here." Avery snapped.
"It jumped out the window you-" Aberforth swore, picking himself up from the floor and pointing to the open window.
Avery felt his cheeks and neck redden with embarrassment, "Your breakfasts are crap anyway."
Aberforth glared him from the room, flashing one last look to the corner where Harry, Hermione and Draco were hidden before closing the door.
Harry had no idea how long there were huddled there, the window showed only the building next door, not enough shadow to see how much the sun was moving and there was no clock in the room.
His legs and arms cramped from being stuck still for so long and he was sure that any moment they were going to give way under him when Aberforth returned.
"You're safe. It'll be a couple of hours before they come back in for dinner. Not sure if they told you, but my name is Aberforth, and yes Dumbledore was my brother." he sighed.
Hermione, Harry and Draco collapsed to the floor, shattering the charm that had been hiding them. All three of them rubbed their aching muscles and joints before forcing themselves to stand again.
"We're sorry to cause you any trouble." Hermione said, breathing deeply.
Aberforth shrugged, looking over them, "I see… Well it isn't your fault, it's only recently they've started coming in every single day. They noticed I had larger food supplies than other places. We're not exactly in the position to turn anyone away right now."
"Hopefully we can help there." Harry said, "In a roundabout way."
"You three eaten?" Aberforth asked, waving at them to follow him.
"Not since last night." Draco said, they'd all been too nervous to have any breakfast that morning.
Aberforth told them to sit in the corner of his sitting room and wandered off to the kitchen, returning just a few minutes later with a tray, filled with buttered bread, cheese, ham and four small tankards of mead.
Harry, Hermione and Draco ate and drank hungrily, they'd forgotten just how good non-magicked food tasted. Once they'd finished Aberforth continued to look at them intently.
Hermione coughed, clearing her throat, "Is there anything we can do to repay you?"
Aberforth shook his head, "No. I was just trying to work out what it was that my brother saw in you."
Harry felt himself shrink in the chair, "I… I'm not sure myself."
"I imagine your answer will depend on how much I liked my brother." Aberforth smiled, a look that reminded Harry uncomfortably of Dumbledore.
"Well we wouldn't wish to insult you after you fed us, covered for us with the Death Eaters." Draco said politely.
Aberforth nodded, "Very well said. Just so you know there was no love lost between my brother and I. I could never forgive him for killing our baby sister."
The announcement hung in the air like a poison.
"He killed your sister?" Hermione said, barely more than a whisper.
Aberforth nodded, "She was troubled. She'd been attacked you see, by a group of muggles seeing her playing with her magic. Our mother kept her locked away as Ariana… her magic would explode out from her like a bomb."
"I think I've read about something like that." Draco frowned, "Magic turned inwards… an Obscurus or something."
Aberforth nodded, frowning at the three of them, "What sort of books have you been reading? That's dark magic there."
Draco shrugged and smirked, "There are many upsides to growing up with the Malfoy library."
Aberforth nodded, "Well, one day, she exploded, killing our mother. It wasn't her fault." he said sharply, "She couldn't help it. Albus hated the fact he was now dumped with us. Our father was in prison for attacking the muggles that had attacked his daughter, how is that fair?"
"It isn't." Hermione said simply, "Not at all. And it's things like that that have allowed Death Eaters to view us as such a threat."
Aberforth shook his head, "Albus… he was free when she died, couldn't be happier. You see he never… he never quite saw people as human, or realised that they were as as important as he was."
"How did she die?" Harry asked, sensing that Aberforth needed to tell this story, to get it off his chest.
"Albus got into a fight with his boyfriend… Grindelwald. Yes, you'll have heard that name as well." Aberforth laughed as Draco gasped.
"I… I never knew that Dumbledore was friends with Grindelwald." Draco said, "I mean, he defeated him."
Aberforth nodded, "He kept his previous relationship with him very quiet, used every contact he had to keep it in the dark. But yes, he did defeat him, after letting him run wild for far too long, and after… long after Ariana was killed. They were fighting, Grindelwald attacked me, he was a bad influence on Albus, a truly terrible influence. Ariana… she heard the noise and ran in the middle of the fight to stop them."
"You're sure it was Dumbledore that killed her?" Harry asked, feeling impossibly numb.
Aberforth nodded, "Yes. Even if it wasn't his spell, although I am almost certain that it was, he was the one who'd said he'd locked her in for the night. She got out because of him, he set her up like a pig to slaughter!"
Harry felt the meal he'd just had come forcing its way back up his throat, throwing it up in the bin nearby.
"Sorry to ruin your good impression of the man." Aberforth grunted, sounding anything but sorry.
"It's not that." Draco said defensively, "Dumbledore set up Harry's little sister as well, her name's Danica. She nearly died."
Aberforth's face fell, shaking his head, "I'm so sorry. Here, let me get you a glass of water."
Harry wobbly made it back to his seat, putting his head between his knees. He took the paper towels and water from Aberforth, taking small sips and wiping his mouth as a cold sweat covered his skin.
"Is she… how old was she?" Aberforth asked after a moment.
"She's nine, she was eight when she was attacked." Harry said, "He… he set a werewolf on her."
"She was the child attacked up at the school, at the end of last year?" Aberforth asked.
Harry nodded, "Yeah, that was Danica."
Aberforth shook his head again, "We all heard about it, Hogsmead loves gossip. Poor girl. I didn't mean to upset you, to bring it up or anything."
Harry shook his head, "No, it's all right. I'm sorry about Ariana as well."
A heavy silence covered them again. Aberforth slapped his hands on his knees and stood up.
"Right, I think we should get going, never know how long we're going to get until another round of hungry, ungrateful mouths comes through the door." Aberforth sighed.
"Can I ask you something, before we go?" Harry asked quickly.
Aberforth nodded, "What is it?"
"Your sister was attacked by muggles, you lost your father when he defended or… avenged her." Harry said slowly, "And then your sister died. Dumbledore was always very against You-know-who and the Death Eaters… so why are you?"
"Why am I what?" Aberforth asked, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion.
"Against the Death Eaters. I'm just not sure even I could blame you for supporting them." Harry shrugged, "I mean, if wizards had more control… Ariana would never have been attacked, or at least your father would never have been sent to prison."
Aberforth smiled sadly at Harry, nodding slightly, "Maybe that's why last time round I stayed out of it all. Thing is it seems like everyone has someone to fight for, and I'm not sure that You-know-who and his lots would have been too fond of Ariana either. Took me a long time to learn that I didn't have to do the opposite of what Albus would of just because… the best thing I can do to honour Ariana is to just be me. Hence why I'm here, living in my pub, ticking by… it's not much but it's my life, completely and totally mine."
"Until you started have a bunch of kids traipsing in and out of here at all hours." Harry smiled.
Aberforth grumbled, "It's not so bad… now come along."
He led them over to the fireplace, where a pretty young girl sat in her picture frame. She let out a light laugh and skipped down the corridor behind her until she was just a speck in the distance and the portrait swung from the wall, showing them the entrance to the tunnel.
"Thank you Ariana." Harry said softly as he passed her picture, scrabbling into the tunnel.
Aberforth replaced the picture back, firmly fixed on the wall, the moment the three of them were all inside they tunnel, leaving them in darkness.
Harry, Hermione and Draco all lit their wands at once, adding to the dim light that came from a few lights in the distance.
"We've clearly been spending too much time together, we're practically reading one another's minds." Draco smirked, as they fell automatically into line.
They walked quickly and quietly, listening out for even the smallest noise, even long after they couldn't see the end of the tunnel behind them.
Hermione reached the door first, placing her hands against the smooth wood before knocking loudly.
The door swung open as silence fell in the Come and Go room.
"We've come Maying." Draco said with a smile.
"That's meant to be done before sunrise." Neville said with a dead-pan expression, trying not to laugh, "But I think we can let it slide, just this once."
Neville stepped aside and let them through.
"HARRY!" Lily cried, running over and throwing her arms around her son, holding him tightly, "Oh gods have I missed you!"
Harry clutched on to her, "I've missed you too Mum."
He finally pulled away, seeing Lucius hugging Draco just as tightly to his side. Allowing himself for a moment to revel in the happiness, and feeling of being safe that his mother always seemed to bring.