Aberforth seemed lost in contemplation of his own knotted and veined hands.

After a long pause he said. "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?"

A shard of ice seemed to pierce Harry's heart.

"I don't believe it. Dumbledore loved Harry," said Hermione.

"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," said Harry before Hermione could answer, "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!"

"You're seventeen, boy!"

"I'm of age, and I'm going to keep fighting even if you've given up!"

"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." said Harry. "Your brother knew how to finish You-Know-Who and

he passed the knowledge on to me. I'm going to keep going

until I succeed - or I die. Don't think I don't know how this might end. I've known it for

years."

He waited for Aberforth to jeer or to argue, but he did not. He merely moved.

"We need to get into Hogwarts," said Harry again. "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 remained fixed in his chair, gazing at Harry with the eye, that were so

extraordinarily like his brother's. At last he cleared his

Throat, got to his feet, walked around the little table, and approached the portrait of 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 - ?" began Ron.

"There's only one way in now," said Aberforth. "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 . . . ?" said Hermione, 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. His hair was

Longer than Harry had ever seen. He appeared and torn. Larger and larger the two figures

Grew, until only their heads and shoulders filled the portrait.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 655