A New Beginning (Harry & Hermione from "Harry Potter")

Dumbledore

Harry and Hermione walked into the house of the stranger, but they could still hear him talking to the Death Eaters.

"Wasn't your Patronus an Otter?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Yeah, that's what I thought it was, too. I am as shocked as you are," she answered, baffled. Harry thought about how Tonks's Patronus had changed last year. He had learned then a Patronus only changes if it's eternal love, unchanging- part of you forever.

"Were you the one who sent that Doe?" Harry asked.

"What?"

"The one in the forest. The one that transformed into the sword."

"I didn't have my wand with me when you dived in Harry, remember? You had taken it. How am I supposed to create a corporeal Patronus without a wand?" Hermione answered. Harry was still confused.

"What if it was this man? He is protecting us right now, isn't he?" Harry asked. And then, they heard the old man yelling at the Death Eaters again.

"You idiots! The Patronus was not a doe or a stag. It was a goat, and it was mine! Now, leave! You are wasting my time."

"Okay, okay, we made a mistake. Chill," said one Death Eater and they all left.

"I think he just answered your question," Hermione said. The old man turned around.

"Are you out of your mind?" he exploded. He had long white hair and a long white beard. He looked old and wise. In fact, he resembled Dumbledore so much. Before Harry could ask the old man if he was a relative of him, Hermione started talking.

"Mister, I have a question for you," said Hermione. "Are you related to Albus Dumbledore?"

The man looked at her in fury.

"Why would you think that?"

"You look so much like him."

The stranger didn't say anything. He seemed uncomfortable.

"Why did you help us? You knew that I was Harry Potter and it was dangerous," said Harry.

"Because I knew you would come and was prepared for it."

Harry was confused. How would he know? The stranger opened his mouth again after a minute of silence but Harry had already known.

"You are Aberforth, aren't you? Dumbledore's brother?" Harry asked. The man nodded without looking at him.

"Is this the portrait of your younger sister, sir, Ariana?" asked Hermione, pointing at the portrait on the wall.

"Yes," he said. He looked full of grief and it was obvious that he hadn't talked about this for a really long time. "She died at a young age. Albus never cared for her as much as I did," he said. He seemed irritable. Harry changed the subject.

"Sir, we are trying to go to Hogwarts. Is there any way-"

"Please sit down and take a sip of your tea," interrupted Aberforth. He went near the portrait and said, "You know what to do, Ariana." She nodded and started walking away. She walked so far that after a while, she had disappeared.

Harry sat down and took out the piece of mirror Sirius had given him.

"Uh, Harry, I can see you in this mirror," said Hermione. She was looking at the mirror on the wall. Harry looked at his piece of mirror and saw Hermione's hair.

"Well, I can see you too!"

Harry went near Hermione and they looked at the mirror closely.

"The piece belongs to my mirror," said Aberforth. "I guess Sirius gave you that, didn't he?"

"Well, yeah, but where do you-"

"I bought this from Mundungus Fletcher a long time ago. I learned that the two pieces belonged to Sirius and your father James in the past. Actually, I was using it to track where you were. You know, trying to take care of you actually."

"So you knew where I was and what I was doing all the time?" Harry thought about Dobby and how he had been curious about his apparition in the Malfoy Manor to save them.

"You sent Dobby to us, didn't you? He was at the wedding because you had told him to go. He was coming back and forth to Bill's house and you regularly. And you told him we were at the Malfoy Manor."

It had all fit suddenly. Harry had realized how much Aberforth had been trying to protect him. He could almost feel as if he was under Professor Dumbledore's protection, as if Dumbledore was still alive.

Aberforth nodded. "Dobby, he was a fine elf you know. Really wanted to help me to protect you. Where is he?"

Harry gulped. "He is dead," he said. He realized how hard it had gotten to say it after learning how much Dobby had done for him.

"Oh," Aberforth said, he seemed a bit upset. "I'm sorry, I really liked that elf."

"Yeah, so did we," Hermione said. She looked at the painting of Ariana. "Mr. Dumbledore, I think your sister is back."

Oh, Ariana, you're back so fast!"

"Where did she go?" asked Hermione. Then, the portrait opened. They saw Ron coming out of a long and dark tunnel.

"I did it, mate. I got rid of it!"

Harry and Hermione were baffled. They didn't expect to see Ron this soon. They ran towards him and shoved themselves on him so hard that he was going to fall down.

"How-"

"I'll tell you all about it in our way. Just follow me," interrupted Ron and showed them the way into the tunnel beginning with the portrait entrance.

Harry looked at Aberforth in a thankful way. Harry could swear he was smiling.

"See you, Mr. Dumbledore," said Harry. Hermione and he started following Ron.

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked.

"You'll see," said Ron. He seemed so excited as if something big was going to happen.

"So when are you planning to tell us what happened?" asked Harry.

"After you left for Gringotts, Luna and I apparated to Hogsmeade. It is interesting because neither I nor Luna did it. It was the deluminator. It just happened to apparate us to Hogsmeade," Ron said.

"But how did you survive? I mean, there had been lots of Death Eaters when we apparated there too. The alarm went off as we came there," Hermione said.

"Well, that's interesting. There was no alarm at all when we apparated. We just went into the first bar we saw and met a man that resembled Dumbledore so much. I asked him if he was a relative and then, he said he was Aberforth, his brother. Luna and I told him about us trying to get to Hogwarts, and he took us to his house. We got to Hogwarts with this tunnel, too. I guess that's why Aberforth told Ariana to find me," said Ron.

"Maybe they took precautions and decided to set an alarm right after the Gringotts incident," Hermione told Harry.

"Yeah, I was going to ask about that. What happened to you? Did you destroy the cup?"

"No," said Harry. "Griphook took the sword and ran away. We had no other chance but to come here, for the Basilisk fang, as its venom is the only way to destroy it."

"You told us you got rid of something. What is it?" Hermione asked but before Ron could tell them about it, they had reached the end of the tunnel. Another portrait opened. They saw Neville, Ginny, Luna and all the other people from the D.A. Harry and Hermione looked at each other. They were finally at Hogwarts.