Harry stared dumbly at the creature.
"A stag? That's your Patronus?" Ron exclaimed in shock and looked around, then as if he thought of something, he took a short breath and said, "Could - could someone have used the time-turner? We used a time-turner!?"
"No, I don't think so." Harry said, in half certainty and half doubt, "It wasn't a stag, but ... rather some other creature with horns."
At that moment, Hermione tugged on his sleeve and said in surprise, "Harry! Ron! Look over there, that, that's-"
They looked in the opposite direction of the castle and saw a small, blurry grey figure through the gap in the castle's iron gates.
"... Dumbledore?" Ron's eyes bulged.
"No," Harry said excitedly, though he didn't know why. "It's Aberforth. Come on, let's go over there!" He jumped down the slope that they had climbed halfway up, and galloped as fast as he could.
As he ran, the previously somewhat vague thought took shape in his mind that perhaps Aberforth knew something about Voldemort's wand ... and if Headmaster Dumbledore really did intend to give it to Snape, it must have something to do with him.
Harry thought eagerly, so far he knew nothing about how to get rid of the soul fragment from his body.
At the gate of the castle, Harry and Aberforth faced each other, "Is that you, boy?" Aberforth growled grumpily, suspecting that his Patronus had sent the message to the wrong person.
"It's me." Harry gasped, a mixed feeling welling up inside him, he knew what this old man had been through.
"What's the problem?" Aberforth asked impatiently. At that moment, Ron and Hermione came running towards them, out of breath.
"Well," Harry racked his brain, "we just saw you ... your Patronus, the big guy with the horns ... "
"The goat, yeah, the goat." Aberforth said distractedly, the same azure eyes as Dumbledore's gazed up towards the castle.
"You're looking for Headmaster Dumbledore, aren't you?" Harry suddenly understood the purpose of Aberforth, "Unfortunately, I don't know the method to open the gate, there's a protection spell cast around Hogwarts ..." His words proved to be like stirring up a hornet's nest.
"I don't want to go in, not even a little bit, understand!" Aberforth suddenly growled, and the golden trio was taken aback. "This place makes me sick, I can't believe he's doing this! After all that happened!"
"Mr. Dumbledore? You-" Hermione tried to speak nervously.
"Don't call me that!" Aberforth roared, "I- Ariana-" he gasped violently, his eyes horribly widened and his wand spewing out a flurry of flame as if he might commit murder at any moment.
The trio, who are just separated by a door, are stunned.
After a few moments, Aberforth calmed himself down.
"Don't be nosy, you lot."
"But," Harry gathered his courage, "if you don't like this place, why did you even come? And you're still spending your holidays with ... Headmaster Dumbledore."
The muscles in Aberforth's face quivered one by one.
"You want to know? Because my vile, shameless brother threatened me and forced me to make a choice ... Look, here he is." He said viciously and Harry jerked his head back as Headmaster Dumbledore suddenly appeared a short distance away and is striding towards them.
"Headmaster Dumbledore." Harry murmured, feeling ashamed that he might have entered into the conflict between the Dumbledore brothers by mistake, or perhaps he had failed to defend him in a decisive manner.
Dumbledore merely nodded slightly and said, "You all go back first."
So the golden trio hurried to leave, not even daring to pause for breath. After they had walked some distance away, Harry glanced back, and Headmaster Dumbledore's back was turned to them, so his expression was not visible; but there was disgust written in every frown on Aberforth's face, as he hollered.
"You win, Albus. I promise you, the memories are yours, for, for Ariane ..."
"Why do you guys think Dumbledore's brother got so angry? He looks like his lungs are about to explode -" said Ron impatiently as the three of them climbed the white stone steps all the way up and made their way through the great hall and the grand staircase appeared in their sight.
"Shhh." Harry was about to answer when Hermione interrupted, gesturing cautiously towards the far end.
Mafalda was standing below the huge bulletin board, clutching a slab of cardboard in her hand, and was tilting her head up to speak to Peeves Ghost as if she was interviewing him. "Mr. Peeves, can you tell us about the prank you're most proud of?"
"You've come to the right person!" Peeves Ghost said with a smile, floating in mid-air, trying his best to put on a thoughtful expression as his fingers kept twirling a clown hat.
"Don't startle them." Harry whispered promptly, as he led Ron and Hermione at a slower pace to climb the grand staircase.
"She's expanding her business over to ghosts?" Ron said incredulously. "Peeves isn't even a ghost." Hermione subconsciously retorted, Harry didn't say anything, he wasn't interested in the business of Peeves or the Wall of Mystery tabloid, he just wanted to get back to the common room and clear his head at the moment.
Harry quickened his pace, stepping up two steps at a time, and as he neared the first floor, there was a loud, chaotic noise heard from downstairs.
"...'s most glorious prank is certainly this one!" Peeves' excited shout came from below, followed by a rain of "crackles".
"Chalk head," Ron said with certainty as he stopped in his tracks, "Mafalda's in trouble."
But then there was a rapid chanting sound coming from downstairs - "Wingardium Leviosa! Langlock!" The whine of the Peeves followed, "Mr. Peeves, I've come prepared ..." Harry and the group went up another flight of stairs, and Mafalda's smug voice became faint, and eventually faded.
"I'm massively impressed by Mafalda." Ron said admiringly.
"Harry, have you figured out anything?" Hermione asked, they slowed down at this point, and she looked up and down the stairs and left and right corridors for a while, without seeing anyone else.
"A bit," Harry said, sitting on the stairs, "the gift Snape received, Headmaster Dumbledore's unusual behaviour, and Aberforth's anger ... By the way, they also mentioned Ariana, all of these must be connected, and-" he paused, "I think it has something to do with me."
Ron glanced uneasily at the portraits on the wall, several of them had quietly opened their eyes, and he waved his wand threateningly. "Don't try to eavesdrop, go away." The portrait figures cursed and left the frame.
"You - are - the Prefect." Hermione turned to Ron in annoyance.
"Yeah, I'm the Prefect," Ron said, "This is a really nice place, we can hear footsteps when someone comes by."
Hermione stopped paying attention to him and cast a Muffliato Charm in the vicinity, and turned her head to Harry with a grumpy look, "I also noticed the anomaly when you said that, although we've known for a long time that Headmaster Dumbledore and his brother didn't exactly get along, and the fact that Aberforth is part of the Order of the Phoenix means that the two have eased up a bit, but now they... ..."
" Well look like enemies." Harry said with a nod.
"Could it be that our Headmaster did something?" Ron said, "As you heard, Aberforth is quite repulsed by the family name 'Dumbledore' and it must have something to do with the Headmaster."
Harry thought Ron had hit the nail on the head.
"He has even developed a distaste for the school as well."
"Wait, Harry, listen to this:" Hermione said slowly, "I can't believe he did that, after all that happened ... that's what Aberforth said then, remember? "
"Hermione, you're just repeating my point. This proves once again that Aberforth's attitude has something to do with Headmaster Dumbledore." Ron pointed out.
"No, no, there are nuances." Hermione mused, "After 'All that' happened, what do you think that refers to?" She didn't give them any time to answer, and continued, "I think it's that tragedy, Harry, you told us about ..."
Ariana's death - is an accident caused by the duel between Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and Aberforth.
"Come to think of it, it has been nearly a century since that tragedy, but now it's being brought up by Aberforth once again, so something must have stimulated him, and it has something to do with the tragedy itself."
"Memories." Harry said, as if he had suddenly choked, "Aberforth mentioned memories at the end, and I guess Dumbledore wants to ask for his brother's memories."
Hermione's expression went dazed.
"But why?"
"Because of the Resurrection Stone," Harry said very weakly as he sat down on the step again, and he felt that he had guessed the truth. "Dumbledore has the Resurrection Stone, yes, one of the Deathly Hallows that you remember, it has a function to recall the projections of the dead from the memories of the living, Dumbledore would have wanted to access that precious memory of his brother, after all, those are the only two left in the Dumbledore family at the moment."
"How do you know?" Ron asked in surprise, watching Harry's expression carefully, "You already knew about this? Then you followed us to the Chamber of Secrets and looked for the Resurrection Stone-"
"I guess Headmaster Dumbledore asked Harry to keep it a secret, didn't he?" Hermione asked, staring at Harry, who nodded silently. Hermione continued, "So it's not surprising that Dumbledore asked for the memories, after all, Ariana is closer to Aberforth, and he has more accurate memories, but that should be a good thing for Aberforth, so why is he angry?"
"Wait, I'm not clear yet," Ron protested, "you're skipping a crucial part of the puzzle, what's the point of these memories?"
Harry opened his mouth, but Hermione beat him to it, "Classroom seven."
Harry stared at her with a startled expression.
"What? Isn't that what you thought?" Hermione asked in surprise.
"I thought ... Dumbledore wanted to resurrect his sister ...," Harry mumbled.
"That's not possible Harry," Hermione said strongly, "How many times do I have to state this? Magic can't bring people back from the dead, at least not in the way you want it to happen. Because the conditions simply can't be met. Dead wizards either become ghosts or their souls step into the world of the dead and move on."
"Oh, so you think Dumbledore is trying to extract the memories of two people and then use the power of the Resurrection Stone to make Ariana somehow live in Classroom Seven, just like those memory bodies?" Ron understood.
"I do," Hermione said, "It would be the most likely method to succeed, but I don't think Dumbledore would do it. He should be smart enough to tell the difference between real and fake."
"What are you talking about?" Harry asked sensitively.
"Do you think the ghosts are alive? And there are also magic portraits?" Hermione asked rhetorically in rapid succession, "They do have the intelligence of a living person in some ways, but if you really consider them as living, you will be absolutely disappointed, and even worse, you will become increasingly desperate the closer you get to them."
Harry listened with a pang of discomfort.
He thought of the second brother in 'The Tale of the Three Brothers', the story in which the second brother received the Resurrection Stone from Death and in doing so he summoned the projection of his beloved, but he did not live a happy life, did he realize this too, that the projection of his memory is ultimately not the same as the real person, and that is why he finally lost all his will and chose to commit suicide?
"What you are saying is only an assumption." He said stiffly.
"We're talking about guesses." Hermione said.
"Come on, knock it off, someone's coming up." Ron said as he glanced downwards.
They stood up and continued to walk upstairs. At this point, Hermione was still thinking about Aberforth's strange attitude, "Is it because he recognizes the truth that he refuses to give up his memories? Does he think Headmaster Dumbledore is doing a mistake, or even desecrating the dead? I always felt off, that something might have been overlooked ..."
"Aberforth finally compromised. That's why he's here today." Ron said.
"Oh..."
Hermione suddenly yelped and Harry and Ron followed her gaze as Snape glided over like a giant black bat.
"What are you doing here?" Harry asked as he straightened up.
Snape looked at them coldly.
"I don't need to report to you about where I am appearing, Potter. Five points off for Gryffindor for confronting a professor." He trailed his long robes and looked condescendingly at Ron and Hermione, "Two more points off for being a Prefect and not stopping it."
"What bad luck. It's like he was waiting here specifically to dock some points for us." Ron muttered disgruntledly when Snape left.
"I think he just came out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom." Hermione whispered.
"What? Oh, right." Harry realized with a start, "I always thought he would still be in the basement for his classes. But he's supposed to be sharing a classroom with Professor Bagshot now, no wonder I've seen him in the third-floor corridor a few times ..."
"He's a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts class now, though he's only one of two." Ron said with a sigh as if nothing had happened, "But we can look forward to it a little and make a bet on whether we'll see him next year. Er, to be fair, I think Snape has the advantage, Professor Bagshot is new, and he clearly said he'd only be teaching for one year ..."
"Wait, what did you just say?" Hermione suddenly asked.
Ron looked at her strangely.
"... only be teaching for one year?"
"You just said that Professor Bagshot is new." Hermione said slowly, "If it is some certain practice of Dumbledore's that Aberforth is objecting to, and that practice is clearly related to their sister who died early, what else could it possibly be but a memory?"
...
It is very dimly lit in the Headmaster's office late at night.
"You should think it over, Severus, you are the right person for this task." Dumbledore said softly, using the vague moonlight to discern a figure not far away.
Snape stood in front of the window with a stiff expression, like a statue.
"Are you sure, Dumbledore?"
"I am quite sure, I am no longer in the same physical condition as you are, and right now is the best time to do it." Dumbledore smiled in the darkness, "I must say, I am fortunate, Severus. I have you by my side when I need something."
Snape shook his head in annoyance and strode around the spacious circular room.
"You want me to go undercover again, eh? Dumbledore!" He growled in a low voice.
"Not undercover. You know what I'm talking about, just some necessary preparation." Dumbledore said in a relaxed tone, "You're a good man, Severus, despite the mistakes that you once committed."
There was a long silence.
"I might not always do as you wish. Perhaps I'll turn my head and betray you." Snape said threateningly.
"Not a bad choice, Severus, but I trust you to make the right call." Dumbledore said with a pleasant twinkle of trust in his eyes.
Snape glared at Dumbledore and the two men stared at each other, one with a frown and the other with a smile on their faces. After an unknown amount of time, Snape compromised by raising his wand and pointing it straight at Dumbledore.
"Expelliarmus!"
The Elder Wand instantly broke free from Dumbledore's hand.
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