the wrong choice // d.l.m.

sixty two

"i say we jump!" ron yelled as the dragon flew dangerously close to the water.

"when?" hermione asked.

"now!" harry yelled, causing them all to release their grips and fall into the lake below.

y/n broke through the surface and gasped for air, pushing hair away from her face. the water was freezing and made her entire body run cold. she swam quickly and finally made it to land.

"he knows. you know who." harry said as he climbed out of the water as well, "he knows we broke into gringotts. he knows what we took and he knows we're hunting horcrux's."

"how do you know?" y/n exclaimed.

"i saw him."

"you let him in?" hermione asked, "harry, you can't do that!"

"hermione, i can't always help it! well, maybe i can. i don't know!"

"never mind! what happened?" ron asked.

"well, he's angry. and scared too. he knows if we find and destroy all the horcrux's we'll be able to kill him. i reckon he'll stop at nothing to make sure we don't find the rest. there's more, one of them's at hogwarts."

hermione and y/n quickly knelt and fumbled through her bag, pulling out dry clothes for everyone.

"what? you saw it? at hogwarts?" y/n asked as she took off her shirt to put on a different one.

"i saw the castle and rowena ravenclaw. it must have to do with her. we have to go there now." harry said as he also changed clothes.

"we can't do that! we've got to plan, we've got to figure it out." hermione protested.

"hermione, when have any of our plans ever actually worked?" he yelled, "we plan, we get there, all hell breaks loose."

"he's right." ron said as he undressed as well, "one problem, snape's headmaster now. we can't just walk through the front door."

"we can go to hogsmeade." y/n said, "to honeydukes."

"right, yes, we can take the secret passage in the cellar." harry agreed, "listen, there's something wrong with him. it's like, you know, in the past, i've always been able to follow his thoughts. and now, everything just feels, disconnected."

"maybe it's the horcrux's." ron said, "maybe he's growing weaker. maybe he's dying."

"no. no, it's more like he's wounded. if anything, he feels more dangerous."

~

y/n landed on her feet as hermione apparated them all to hogsmeade. she fixed the collar of draco's old jumper, sighing at the fact that it no longer smelt like him. while fixing it, she looked down towards her hand. his old ring was still there and she smiled. even after all of these years she'd never taken it off.

yelling could be heard in the distance and harry quickly grabbed y/n's hand while ron grabbed hermione's, pulling them into hiding.

they ran for awhile until a voice called out to them, "in here, potter."

harry ran inside quickly but y/n was hesitant, she didn't know who the man was and for all she knew, he could be trying to turn them in to voldemort. she finally gave in and followed in behind ron, ducking out of sight from the death eaters.

y/n walked farther into the cellar and noticed a small mirror on the wall. inside, was harry's face.

"harry?" she said as she looked at it closely, "i can see you in this."

she turned her head and watched harry as he held up a shard of glass. he walked over slowly and held the piece of glass out.

"you bloody fools. what were you thinking coming here?"

y/n turned her head and gasped as she saw the man.

he continued, "have you any idea how dangerous it is?"

"you're aberforth, dumbledore's brother." harry said, "it's you who i've been seeing in here. you're the one who sent dobby."

the man turned, "where have you left him?"

"he's dead." harry said slowly.

"sorry to hear it. i liked that elf."

"who gave that to you?" harry asked as he pointed towards the mirror.

"mundungus fletcher, about a year ago." aberforth said.

"dung had no right. it belonged to,"

"sirius. albus told me. he also told me you'd likely be hacked off if you ever found out i had it, but ask yourself, where would you be if i didn't?"

aberforth dispersed into the kitchen and soon brought out mugs of butterbeer. y/n took one happily and sipped it, letting the warm liquid run down her throat.

"do you hear from the others much? from the order?" hermione asked as she took a sip of hers.

"the order's finished." the man said, "you know who's won. anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves."

"we need to get into hogwarts, tonight." harry said, "dumbledore gave us a job to do."

"did he now? nice job? easy?"

"we've been hunting horcrux's. we think the last one's inside the castle, but we'll need help getting in."

"that's not a job my brother's given you. it's a suicide mission. do yourself a favor, boy, go home. live a little longer."

"dumbledore trusted me to see this through."

"what makes you think you can trust him? you think you can believe anything my brother told you? in all the time you knew him, did he ever mention my name? did he ever mention hers?"

the man pointed to a painting behind harry and he shook his head, "why should he?"

"keep secrets? you tell me."

"i trusted him."

"that's a boy's answer. a boy who goes chasing horcrux's on the word of a man who wouldn't even tell him where to start. you're lying. not just to me, that doesn't matter. to yourself as well. that's what a fool does. you don't strike me as a fool, harry potter. so, i'll ask you again. there must be a reason."

harry paused for a moment, "i'm not interested in what happened between you and your brother. i don't care that you've given up. i trusted the man i knew. and we need to get into the castle tonight."

"you know what to do." aberforth said as he looked up towards the girl in the painting. she nodded before turning and walking into the field of grass.

"where have you sent her?" harry asked.

"you'll see soon enough."

aberforth turned and walked away, and y/n, ron, and hermione joined harry in watching the painting.

"that's your sister, ariana, isn't it?" hermione asked, "she died very young, didn't she?"

aberforth stopped in his tracks and turned around slowly, "my brother sacrificed many things, mr. potter, on his journey to find power, including ariana. and she was devoted to him. he gave her everything, but time."

"thank you, mr. dumbledore." y/n said softly and the man nodded, leaving the four alone.

"she's coming back." hermione said as she watched the painting. she was right. in the distance ariana could be seen as someone followed closely behind her.

"who's that with her?" ron asked.

y/n took a step back as the painting moved, opening up a small passageway.

"neville!" harry exclaimed, "oh, you look,"

"like hell, i reckon. this is nothing, seamus is worse. come on, we don't got all day, do we?"