𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬 | 𝐜𝐨𝐝

33. dumbledore's truth.

Harry woke up abruptly. His face visibly relaxed when he saw Addy sitting by his bedside, holding his hand.

"What happened?" he asked, sitting up. Addy shared a look with Hermione, who had been sitting nearby.

The two reencountered the event.

"How long have I been out for?"

"Just several hours." Addy responded, "You've been-" she stopped, not knowing what to say.

"You've been ill." Hermione finished, "You've been muttering things in your sleep. We've expected that you had a nightmare."

Harry sighed, "It was nothing." He then got up quickly, letting go of Addy's hand, "You two better get some rest. Where's my wand?"

Hermione's eyes widened. Addy watched her curiously as she pulled out broken fragments. Harry's face was hard to read in this moment.

"I'm so sorry!" there were tears brimming in Hermione's eyes, "When we were leaving, I think I might've broken it!"

Harry didn't look angry. He didn't seem to be portraying any emotion, "It's fine. I'll just borrow one of your wands."

Hermione handed him her wand and he left the tent.

"Don't feel bad Hermione, without you we wouldn't've escaped." Addy reassured her. She shrugged and retreated into the other room.

Addy struggled to walk still, but was able to pull herself over to the flaps of the tent. Harry was leaning against a tree, practicing simple spells with Hermione's wand. He levitated parts of the snow into the air and set them down in different locations.

"I remember when I did that last year. During our snowball fight." Addy spoke. Harry looked up at her, a smile forming on his lips.

"Yeah, I wasn't even expecting that." he chuckled lightly as she sat down beside him.

"It was an interesting day." she said absently. She glanced over at him to see his face flushing, but lightly smiling.

"Yeah, it was."

The old feelings of that night came rushing back to her. The way he had been so passionate yet gentle with her. The way the night was progressing to something significant. The way Ron had interrupted them. If only he hadn't. Their relationship would've taken the next step right there and then. Maybe things would be different between them now.

She glanced over at him again. His eyes were flickering from her eyes to her lips. She found herself doing the same thing to him.

"Is this a bad time?" Hermione's voice called. Addy snapped out of her fantasy and looked down.

"No, not at all." she cleared her throat. Harry nodded in agreement. Hermione came and sat across from the two.

"Godric's Hollow was all for nothing." she said, "I really thought Bathilda left the sword there. We talked ourselves into it."

She then held out a book Addy hadn't even seen her holding.

"The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore." Harry read. Hermione must've taken the book with her.

"I've been skimming through it. It doesn't seem like a bunch of rubbish Rita Skeeter usually writes." Hermione handed Harry the book who immediately flipped through the pages.

The two watched his face screw up with concentration as he read. He finally closed the book and handed it to Addy. She turned to the page that Harry had been reading.

The chapter explained Dumbledore's youth friendship with Gellert Grindelwald. Her eyes widened as she read how the two had a plan to make the world a better place, in the process of eliminating muggles. Addy couldn't believe how Albus Dumbledore, who used to be one of the most powerful and caring wizards, could do something like this. He also had a sister and mother that died and how he didn't have a good relationship with his younger brother. His sister had a magical disorder and was forced to go into hiding. This was the startling truth about him. He had a broken childhood.