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SIYE Time:3:26 on 19th March 2024
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Harry Potter and The Path Not Taken
By Brelem

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Category: Alternate Universe, Post-HBP
Characters:All
Genres: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, General, Romance
Warnings: None
Rating: PG-13
Reviews: 13
Summary: My story picks up right after the trio learns that Ginny is being punished for trying to steal the Sword of Gryffindor from Snape's office. Harry has decided that he can't let her just stay at Hogwarts and that he is going to go get her back.
Hitcount: Story Total: 4362



Disclaimer: Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R. Note the opinions in this story are my own and in no way represent the owners of this site. This story subject to copyright law under transformative use. No compensation is made for this work.



Author's Notes:
This is my first adventure into the Fan-Fiction (or prose writing scene for that matter) scene. I am normally a poet and a good one if I say so myself. It seems that my skills in poetry dont directly translate over to novel writing so I have to thank Kezza without who this piece would just be sitting amoung the hall of ideas in my brain. Please review and spare nothing, I want to here the good and the bad.




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There was a long pause and a shuffling of feet as the men outside the tent discussed whether they should sleep on the bank or retreat back up the slope. Deciding that the trees would provide better shelter, they extinguished their fire and clambered up the incline, their voices faded away.

Harry found it increasingly difficult to remain quiet the longer they eavesdropped on the group by the river. Harry had mixed feelings knowing Ted was safe but that he’d had to leave his family to be so. Harry was glad to hear Dean was well, if a little underfed but it disturbed Harry how casually the goblin, Griphook, who Harry remembered from his first trip into Gringotts, spoke of the students’ cruel punishment.

It had been good to hear familiar voices after so long in isolation but it was the man named Dirk whose words were still pounding through Harry’s head as he, Ron and Hermione rolled in the Extendable Ears, Harry found himself, inexplicably unable to say more than “Ginny—the sword—”

“I know!” said Hermione, looking at Harry sadly. “I wish that there was something we could do.”

“Let’s go then!” said Harry discarding the Extendable Ears on the floor and moving to where his bag sat next to his bed.

“Go where, Harry?” asked Hermione she wore a look of concern and eyed Harry seriously.

“To get Ginny!” Harry almost shouted in his urgency to make her understand. Hermione gasped at the sudden change is his voice. Ron who had moved to stand beside her flinched as Harry quickly turned to face them. “We can’t just leave her!”

“You want to go to Hogwarts?” asked Ron eyeing Harry sceptically.

“Yes!” Harry shouted causing Ron and Hermione to reflexively recoil. He couldn’t see why they didn’t understand his urgent need to get to Ginny, to protect her. “Where else would I possibly want to go right now?”

Hermione and Ron exchanged glances before they looked back to Harry as if he‘d gone barmy. “Listen, Harry. I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” Hermione‘s voice was barely more than a whisper. “I mean it’s terrible about Ginny but we—”

“Don’t you dare say that we already have a job to do!” Harry interrupted. “It’s Ginny! We can’t ignore this! She is the most important person in my life! I broke up with her so she wouldn’t be in danger! I can’t just continue on with hunting Horcruxes when I know that Ginny is suffering I won’t!”

“Harry, even if we could get her out of Hogwarts, and I’m not saying that we can,” Hermione began. “The Death Eaters wouldn’t be after just her anymore they would go after all the Weasleys. We could be putting them in the same danger you are trying to shelter Ginny from.”

“We can protect them. We can have the Fidelius Charm put on the Burrow.” argued Harry, resuming his normal tone. “They’d be safer than they are now!”

“All of them would have to quit their jobs,” said Hermione. “We can’t force that upon them. They would…we would have to…we just can’t…” She looked to Ron in supplication. Harry narrowed his eyes as he watched her attempt to win Ron over.

“Oh, remembered me, have you?” Ron said grumpily moving away from Hermione and Harry and crossing his arms. “Don’t let me distract you even if it is my sister and my family you are discussing.”

Harry tore his gaze away from Hermione and looked at his best mate. The locket dangled from the chain that hung around Ron’s neck, glinting in the semi-darkness of the tent.

“Ron, you can’t possibly agree with Harry?” Hermione said. She was no longer pleading with Ron but looked concerned. “The locket – it’s making you anxious and upset. Think about this rationally!”

“You think that this is what is making me want to go with Harry to save my only sister?” asked Ron pulling at the locket. “I can’t possibly want to simply keep her out of harm, can I? No, no it’s the locket, you’re right. I could never actually care about my sister. Let just see if you are right, Hermione.” Ron grasped the locket and pulled it over his head and tossed it to the ground.

He looked himself over, patting his body in a dramatic manner and then looked back to Hermione. “Nope still feel the same. Still want to save my sister.”

“You two can’t possibly be serious!” Hermione’s eyes darted from Ron to Harry and back again. “If you had ever read Hogwarts: A History then maybe you would realize that breaking into Hogwarts simply can’t be done.”

Ron looked off into nothingness, thoughtfully. Harry opened his mouth to argue that books didn’t know everything but Hermione cut him off.

“Well, now Hogwarts is probably guarded by Death Eaters!” Hermione was drawing long, heavy breaths, her face flushed and her chest was heaving up and down. “You-Know-Who himself could be there for all we know! And if somehow we were able to do the impossible and get through the gate, past the Death Eaters and into the castle, we still have to find Ginny and escape before alerting Snape or the Carrows. We then have to get her back through the gates we can’t open and back past the Death Eater’s whose numbers we aren’t even sure of!”

“Look, Hermione,” Harry said forcefully. He was finding it increasingly difficult to keep from shouting again. “I know it seems impossible but we’ve only survived this long because we’ve done the impossible. We’ve made it out of situations that would have beaten many full-grown witches and wizards. We can do this, Hermione. We’ve got the Invisibility Cloak, and the Marauders map. Death Eaters must come and go from Hogwarts all the time. We’ll just wait under the Cloak until they open the gates.” He stared at Hermione hoping she would see that this was possible.

“I don’t know, mate,” Ron said slowly. “I hate it as much as you do but maybe Hermione is right.” Harry was astounded. He had expected a dispute from Hermione but Ron had always been behind him, ready to jump into whatever lay ahead.

“You’ve got to be joking!” Harry was livid. “Ron, we have the Cloak - something everyone else who has tried to get into Hogwarts has never had. We have the Marauders map! We know more about that castle than anyone, probably even Fred and George!” Harry was pleading now, desperate to make Ron understand that Hermione was just being too cautious, that they could do this, Harry knew it. Ron had to know it too.

“Maybe we finally met our match, eh?” Ron shrugged. “We can’t continue making the impossible possible forever. We’ll have to face the facts eventually and, as much as I hate it, I think this is it. I mean, we can’t all fit under the Cloak like we used to and what if you’re wrong? What if no one ever comes or goes from Hogwarts? Instead of finding Horcruxes we would just be wasting time and helping no one, not even Ginny. I’m sorry…”

Harry didn’t understand why they didn’t see it as clearly as he did. He knew it was possible, he could feel it. It was as if they didn’t care about Ginny as much as he did, which he knew was absolute rubbish. It was madness for them to tell him to forget about her, as if they’d heard nothing.

“How could you ask me to leave Ginny to the Carrows?” Harry spoke through gritted teeth, his fists clenched. “How could you ask me to act like I hadn’t just heard that Ginny is being tortured? You know what she means to me? She’s your sister, Ron, if anyone can understand surely you can. Hermione, Ginny has been like a sister to you. How could either of you not even try?” Harry was trembling with the effort of trying to keep his anger from boiling over.

Hermione looked stung and Ron stood staring blankly at Harry with his mouth open.

“How could you think that we want to leave Ginny there?” Ron asked. “She’s my sister. If there was any plan that had a chance of succeeding you’ve gotta believe that I’d be right behind you, mate. We have to face what is in front of us. What good would we be if we got captured or killed by the Death Eaters? With no one left that knows about the Horcruxes there is no way anyone could defeat You-Know-Who. I know what you must feel but the only way that you can help Ginny right now is by doing everything you can to bring that bastard down.” Hermione nodded her agreement but remained silent.

Harry was not placated. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing, didn’t understand why Ron was being so pigheaded and stupid. His anger threatened to overwhelm him. Harry rummaged in his bag and pulled out the Marauder’s map. Unfolding it on the table in front of Ron and Hermione he jammed his finger at the parchment.

“Look!” Harry shouted. “Look and tell me that we shouldn’t try to help Ginny! Look!”

Ron moved closer to look at the map. Hermione trailed silently beside him. They looked down at the dot labelled Ginny Weasley. It was in front of two other dots labelled Amycus Carrow and Alecto Carrow. Death Eaters. Hermione let out a gasp and brought her hand to her mouth. Her eyes watered with threatening tears and the blood drained from her face. Ron, equally pale, blinked ferociously as tears threatened to slide down his own face.

“Are you still going to tell me to forget about it?” demanded Harry. “To just concentrate on the task at hand?”

Ron looked up at Harry tears threatening to fall and spoke the words Harry desperately didn’t want to hear. “Sorry, Harry. There’s just not a way.”

“No!” Harry shouted walking away from his friend and went back to his bag to gather up the Invisibility Cloak. “I won’t, I can’t believe that! I don’t care if every Death Eater in the world is in Hogsmeade right now! I don’t care if I get captured! I don’t care if I get…killed” Both Ron and Hermione gasped this time but he didn’t pay attention to them. He had meant it. He would do anything for Ginny.

“Harry,” Hermione whispered. “You don’t…you don’t mean that.”

“Oh, yes I do!” Harry continued shouting. “I told Ginny that we broke up so that she would be kept from danger! I cannot and will not let her be tortured!” Tears were starting to form in his eyes now; he blinked them away. “Ginny is the most important person in my life. I care about her more than my own safety or even the fate of the whole Wizarding world. I would gladly be put under the Cruciatus Curse for the rest of my life to prevent her from having to endure it for a second.” Harry stopped shouting and looked sadly at his friends. “We’ve been through so much together and now I’m asking you…begging you to help me. Please help me. I know that we can do this.”

Ron pulled out a chair and slumped into it resting his head in his hands. “Harry…I would do anything for you, mate.” Harry looked hopefully at his friend. Maybe he had convinced him after all. “But this…this isn’t…it’s not…I don’t think we can do it, Harry.”

Harry’s heart stopped. He looked at both of his friends wishing they would look at him and see the need in his eyes. As much as Harry believed in their ability to get to Ginny, he knew he had little chance of succeeding by himself. Hermione glanced up at Harry and he could see the tears streaming down her face and Harry knew that as much as the three of them cared for each other and as much as they’d been through together that he could not convince them to help him now. He looked down at the floor to break eye-contact and noticed the locket still lying on the floor of the tent. He slowly moved over and bent down to pick it up. He stared at the object in his hands and now hated it more than ever. He put the locket on the table and then shoved the Invisibility Cloak back in his bag. With one last look at his friends, Ron, who remained sitting and Hermione staring off into a corner, he lay down on his bed and turned his back to them.

“I’m so sorry, Harry.” came Ron’s voice.

Harry closed his eyes and let grief and helplessness consume him. The tears threatened him again but he shook them away. His thoughts drifted to Ginny and their first kiss in the middle of the Gryffindor common room, heedless of the eyes around him. Harry still had no idea what had possessed to him kiss her but he certainly did not regret it. A longing Harry could not fill gripped his heart as he succumbed to sleep.
********

Harry could hear her screams. Hear the agony in her voice. The cries pierced him to his very center. His heart shattered every time a sound left her lips. He could hear the Carrows laughing as Ginny writhed in pain on the floor unable to lift her now frail looking body from the floor. He heard a voice dripping in hatred shout ‘Crucio!’ and a fresh wave of shrieks and cries stabbed at his heart.

“No!” Harry yelled as he shot up from his bed. He had been dreaming. He looked around the tent and was surprised to find that his shout had not woken up his friends. A fresh wave agony shook through Harry as he relived his nightmare. He flung his legs over the side of the bed and put his head in his hands. The nightmare had shaken him. He could still feel the horror and the pain that had stabbed at his heart every time Ginny cried out. He couldn’t let her suffer anymore. He wouldn’t. He had to go to Hogwarts and save Ginny from further pain. He knew Ron and Hermione would still be against it. He didn’t bother waking them as he gathered up the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauders map. Before he exited the tent he wrote down a note for his friends and set it on the table.

Sorry, I can’t sit around while Ginny is in pain but I know I can’t ask you to come with me. I’m going to Hogwarts and getting Ginny. I hope. If I don’t return you have to continue hunting the Horcruxes, you two are the only other people that know about them. It will be up to you to finish Voldemort.

Harry

Harry turned away from the letter his resolve taking over and he left the tent, hoping desperately that he would see his friends again.

The cold night air bit at Harry’s skin causing him to shiver involuntarily. He took one last glance at the tent that housed his two best friends then turned on the spot and once again felt the familiar, albeit uncomfortable, crushing darkness. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his destination with more determination than ever before. Visions of his nightmare continued to force their way to the front of his mind. He shook his head in an attempt to remove them.

Suddenly, the darkness ended and a rush of cold air filled his lungs once again. Opening his eyes, Harry saw Hogsmeade High Street and his mind was shaken with another memory of landing in the same street a year previously, supporting a weakened Professor Dumbledore. Harry was brought back to reality when the door to The Three Broomsticks burst open and a dozen hooded figures moved into the dimly lit street, wands out. Harry managed to slip under the Invisibility Cloak before the Death Eaters looked in his direction.

“Is that you Potter?” cried out one the Death Eaters and Harry’s heart stopped. How had they been expecting him? Where they using Ginny as a trap or where they simply counting on him eventually returning to Hogwarts? Harry thought that the latter was much more likely seeing as he and Ginny were no longer together, although he still cared for her greatly

“Accio Cloak!”

Harry sucked in a breath quickly as he grasped at the folds of the Cloak surrounding him but it made no move to escape.

“Decided to not wear the Cloak, eh, Potter?” said another Death Eater.

“How do we even know its Potter?” asked a third. “It could just be some stupid cat.”

“You heard someone Apparate, same as me,” spoke the first Death Eater. “No. Someone is here and who has a better reason to try and get into the castle then Harry Potter? All of his friends are up there.”

Harry started moving down a dark, muddy side street and was wondering whether or not he should Apparate back to the tent when a door burst open and startled Harry causing him to trip over himself and out of the Cloak.

“Potter, in here quick!” said a rough voice. Harry brought his wand out instinctively and fixed it on the unknown, unseen person. Without taking his eyes or his wand away from where he had heard the voice, Harry picked up the Cloak.

“Put the Cloak back on and get in!” The man stepped into the moonlight peeking around the edge of the door and down towards the Death Eaters; his would be rescuer looked vaguely familiar but Harry still made no move towards him.

“Who are you?” Harry demanded.

“Not a bloody Death Eater, that’s who!” replied the man as he took another look towards the main street. “Listen, Potter, if I’d wanted to hurt you I wouldn’t have let you know I was here, would I?”

Harry thought over what the man had said. A Death Eater would have simply cursed him; he couldn’t deny that but something still bothered him. “How did you know I was here anyway?” asked Harry.

“You’re in a muddy alley, Potter,” the man answered. “I can see your foot prints.”

Harry took his eyes off the man for the first time and looked back from where he came and, indeed, saw a trail leading right to him. He silently cursed himself for not noticing.

“I’m really loving this chat in the moonlight but I’d rather like not to be found by the Death Eaters,” said the stranger catching Harry‘s attention once again. “Keep your wand on me if you must, but get inside!”

Harry didn’t know if he trusted this mysterious man but believed him when he had said he did not want to be seen by the Death Eaters. Harry kept his wand out but lowered it a fraction and slowly made his way across the alley to the door that the man held open. A noise from the street made him hasten through the door carefully keeping as far away from the stranger as the small space would allow.

“Put on the Cloak and wait upstairs,” said the stranger before stepping out into the alley and shutting the door behind him.

As Harry turned away from the door he saw, by the stuttering light of a single candle, the grubby, sawdust strewn bar of the Hog’s Head Inn. He threw the Cloak over his shoulders and ran behind the counter and through a second door, which lead to a rickety wooden staircase which Harry was surprised to find did not squeak in protest as he stepped on it.

Harry reached a dingy room at the top of the stairs, faintly lit by two low burning candles, with a dirty threadbare carpet and small fireplace. Harry found it hard to believe that anyone could live here; there was certainly no evidence of it, a thick layer of dust covered everything. The only furniture was a large worn armchair, positioned directly in front of the fireplace. A large oil painting of a blonde girl hung over the fireplace. She looked over the room with a vacant sweetness. Harry quickly moved to the window which looked out over the alley he had just vacated. He saw the unknown man standing before a group of Death Eaters.

“You set off the alarm?” asked one of the Death Eaters. “It was you?”

“Yes,” replied the man, who Harry now recognized at the Inn’s barman.

“And what were you doing breaking the curfew, then?” demanded the Death Eater. “I assume you are aware of the curfew?”

“I know about your ruddy curfew,” said the stranger. “But if I want to put my cat out, then I’m going to. Gonna cart me off to Azkaban for that?”

“I told you it wasn’t Potter!” complained another Death Eater. The first Death Eater glared at him before turning back to the stranger.

“Consider this a warning, barman.” the Death Eater cautioned. “Next time I won’t be so lenient.”

The group of Death Eaters turned and walked away from the barman back towards The Three Broomsticks. Once they were out of sight the stranger turned walked back into the bar. Harry could hear the door downstairs open and close and brisk footsteps on the stairs. Taking off the Invisibility Cloak, Harry clutched his wand in anticipation of the door opening, readying himself for anything.

“What the bloody hell are you thinking about, Potter?” asked the barman. Coming here? You’ve got to be mad!”

Harry looked into the man’s piercing, brilliant, blue eyes and suddenly had an epiphany. He put away his wand. “You’re Aberforth Dumbledore, aren’t you?”

Saying nothing, the man strode past Harry to the window, and closed the curtains before turning back around to face him. “You didn’t answer my question. I see that being away from your schooling hasn’t helped you any. Normally when someone is on the run, Potter, they don’t come to the one place everyone expects him to show up. Now what was so bloody important that you risked everything to come here?”

“Um…I…er…I came here to…um rescue someone,” said Harry awkwardly. “ They’re being punished, tortured, in the castle and I can’t sit by and just let it happen.”

“People have been undergoing punishment up at that school for months, Potter. What makes you come out of hiding now?” asked Aberforth eyeing him curiously and Harry twitched as the gaze felt familiar, the piercing blue eyes making his spine tingle as he remembered his old Headmaster. Harry suddenly missed Dumbledore a great deal. “This someone, the person being punished now, they mean something to you don’t they?”

Harry nodded. “I left her so she wouldn’t come to any harm and I came here to keep her from suffering anymore…I need to get into the castle. Merlin knows what the Carrows are doing to her.”

“The Carrows, you say?” Aberforth looked at him sceptically. “I’m sorry to tell you this, Potter, but in case you can’t see for yourself, there is no way into Hogwarts. There is a charm set so if anyone steps foot inside this village after curfew, the Death Eaters know about it. You were lucky enough to discover that on your way in. The castle itself has so many enchantments on it that I’d be surprised if there is anything in Hogwarts that Severus Snape doesn’t know about. It seems you’ve come all this way for nothing.”

Harry looked away from the barman. He was sick and tired of hearing everyone tell him that it was impossible and that he needn’t bother trying. His gaze wandered to the portrait above the fireplace and locked eyes with the occupant, who was smiling at him serenely. Harry could not manage a smile back and turned to look at Aberforth.

“You realize that you are telling someone who has survived a killing curse that something is impossible?” laughed Harry even though his mood was far from humorous. He walked away from Aberforth to lean against the armchair. “I know that it seems like suicide but I can’t…I won’t let her suffer. I will find a way into the castle even if I have to wade through a sea of Death Eaters. I‘ve got to try. I could never live with myself knowing that I didn’t at least try.”

“Determination can only get you so far!” said Aberforth throwing his hands up in frustration. “It’s not a matter of battling the Death Eaters outside. Let’s say you manage to get past them, what are you going to do? You can’t get through the gate and Snape’s had all the secret passageways sealed off. Face it, Potter, there’s just no way in.”

Harry could not accept it. He didn’t come this far just to be told the same thing Ron and Hermione had told him. “There has got to be a way in! Snape couldn‘t possibly know about all the passageways!”

“You’d be surprised with what Snape knows,” said Aberforth moving around Harry to sit in the chair he was leaning against. He lit a fire with a flick of his wand before continuing. “I assure that there are no more secret passages in or out of Hogwarts. Accept it.”

“Accept it?” inquired Harry, angrily, walking around the chair to stand before Aberforth and glare at him. “How can I accept that? I’m just supposed to accept that I can’t help her? I won’t do that! This war is supposed to be impossible to win and people are still fighting. Would you tell them to just give up and accept it?”

Aberforth looked up at him. He looked offended. “That’s not the same, is it?” he growled. “If no one fights then thousands of people will die!”

“Oh, so thousands are worth facing the impossible for, but not just one?” asked Harry, his voice rising. “People are making the impossible possible every day by just surviving and you sit there and tell me that getting into a castle is impossible? Why can’t anyone just help instead of telling me how hopeless it is?”

Aberforth sighed and opened his mouth to respond. Both he and Harry jumped when the portrait spoke.

“I know of a way in,” she said. “I can help you.”

Harry stared at the portrait in shock, trying to find his voice. The portrait had remained silent throughout their debate and Harry had certainly not expected her to know of a way into Hogwarts when neither he nor Aberforth did. The barman was looking at the picture in amazement, but seemed to have less trouble finding his words.

“Ariana, what are you talking about?” he asked. “How could you know a way in? You’ve never even been inside the castle!”

Ariana’s painting shrugged. “I just know. I don’t know how.”

“Ariana?” Harry asked. He turned to Aberforth. “Your sister?”

“Yes, Potter. My sister,” he replied moodily. “I don’t expect you to know much of anything about her. Albus was always too busy and important for his lesser talented family.”

“I can’t say that he ever told me about her…or you for that matter but your brother was a great wizard,” stated Harry.

“Great? Bah?” sniffed Aberforth. “Too great to help be part of our family though, wasn’t he? Always had more important and talented people to talk to. Always had ‘the great names of the day’ asking for his advice. Couldn’t make time for his sister though or his crazy goat-loving brother. Oh, yes. I know my role in the legacy of Albus Dumbledore.”

“Ab, you aren’t helping,” interjected Ariana. “He,” she nodded to Harry, “needs my help right now. You’ll have plenty of time to rant about our brother later.” Aberforth fell silent. Ariana smiled at her brother and turned to face Harry. “There is a room in Hogwarts that grants the wishes of whoever is in it at the time, do you know of it?”

“Wishes?” Harry asked. He thought for a moment. “Do you mean the Room of Requirement?”

“If one’s wish is a requirement, then I suppose one would call it thus.” She nodded. ““I can take you to that room. However, I have no way of knowing if it is occupied but you take no more risk than waiting here to try and find a way in. I leave it to you.”

Harry stood silent while he let what she just told him sink in. He had a way of getting into Hogwarts without being seen. “Inside the castle and surrounded is better than outside of it and surrounded. I’ll take my chances on the inside. I’ll have the Cloak with me anyway.”

“You can’t be serious!” interrupted Aberforth, leaving the chair to stand between Harry and the portrait. He looked at Ariana and then to Harry. “Getting in still doesn’t help you find whoever you are looking for or how you are going to get her out undetected. Not to mention that you could run into Snape and probably will run into the Carrows. A gifted wizard, you may be, but you are still just one wizard. As thick as the Carrows are they don’t have limits on what they are willing to do…you do. What if you don’t make it out?”

“Then at least I tried,” Harry said impatiently. “I least I can die knowing that I did something about it when no one else would. I would rather die fighting than live knowing that I should have fought.”

Aberforth just stared at him with his mouth open. Clearly he was surprised that Harry still thought that going into the castle against impossible odds was the right thing to do. “Ariana, please. You can’t let him do this, he’ll be killed!”

“No,” Harry said. “I won’t be killed. At least not right away. Vol—…You-Know-Who will want to kill me himself. I will be safe until they can summon him, anyway.”

“Not everyone could speak about their death so plainly,” reasoned the barman. “You are truly ready to be killed to save this person?”

Harry nodded.

“You are a braver man than most, Harry Potter,” Aberforth said shaking his head. “Because of that you rush in when you shouldn’t, like a damned fool! But…you seem to still be standing. I won’t…I can’t stand in your way. I realize that now. This isn’t about what happens to you it’s about what you can’t let happen to someone else.” Aberforth walked over to stand right in front of Harry. Aberforth looked down his nose at Harry with those piercing blue eyes and grasped Harry’s shoulders firmly. “Good luck, Potter. I hope that I see you again.” With that he strode to the door and made to leave.

“Thank you,” Harry called after him. “I hope that I’ll see you again…soon.” Aberforth stopped with his hand on the door handle and turned to look at Harry again.

“Be careful,” he said. Aberforth turned back to the door and slipped through it, closing it behind him as he clattered down the stairs. Harry heard his footsteps fade away. He turned back to Ariana’s portrait. She was still staring at Harry, radiating an aura of sweetness.

“Are you ready?” she asked.

““Um…yeah,” replied Harry. “How do I…I mean how does this work?”

Ariana said nothing but smiled at him as her portrait swung forward to reveal a long narrow tunnel that was steadily growing larger and larger until it was big enough for Harry to fit through it. He took a deep breath and walked to the tunnel’s entrance. He eyed the narrow passageway cautiously before closing his eyes and taking a tentative step forward, then another. With each step his anticipation built. He wasn’t sure how had he expected to breach the castle but he was certain this was not it.

The passage continued for what seemed like an impossibly long amount of time. This was magic he supposed. Harry could just make out a small patch of light ahead. He quickened his pace now that anticipation was replacing his anxiety. The light at the end of the tunnel was slowly getting closer, too slowly. Harry started to jog as best he could in the narrow passage. After a couple more minutes Harry emerged into a large, perfectly square room. The walls were bare and there was no furniture or windows. There was only a single door on the wall opposite Harry. His mind was assaulted by memories teaching Dumbledore’s Army Defense Against the Dark Arts in his fifth year. As he continued to look at the room he remembered kissing a crying Cho Chang; he shook his head to rid himself of that memory. He had made it into Hogwarts. He took out the Marauder’s Map and searched the dungeons for Ginny’s dot. He found it in the same place he had back in the tent, she was still surrounded by the Carrows. Flashes of his dream found their way back into his mind and pierced his heart. He shook his head violently to remove the images. Anger began to replace his sadness. Harry put away the map, pulled the Cloak back on, and gripped his wand tightly. He walked over to the door and quickly darted from the room, making his way as quickly as he could to the dungeons-to Ginny.
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