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"I'M sorry professor, but I need you to tell me how the dark lord obtained the diadem and hufflepuff cup", evelyn commanded as dumbledore sat up from his grave.
evelyn needed to keep the man under her imperious curse as long as she needed.
dumbledore was vulnerable right now especially without his wand. the entire world had assumed that the greatest wizard had died, and evelyn intended to keep it that way until she felt it was necessary to lift the curse.
"tom riddle started working at borgin and burkes right after his graduation at hogwarts. though many had said that his talent was wasted there, he worked there for the sole reason of finding something special that he could put part of his soul into".
"and what did he find?", evelyn questioned.
"tom riddle was a charming man. he had many customers give up their precious belongings because of how likable he was. specifically, there was a woman named hepizibah smith, who at the time, possessed the slytherin locket and hufflepuff cup", dumbledore robotically answered.
"then what about the ravenclaw diadem?", the girl asked.
"no one knows the location of it, as the people who knew are all dead", dumbledore replied.
by this point, evelyn knew that harry and them have probably grasped the hufflepuff cup. that meant that she needed to find the ravenclaw's diadem.
but if no one knew where it was, then how was the girl supposed to find it?
'no. voldemort definitely knows, but he wouldn't trust me enough to tell me. bellatrix might possibly know but she won't be of much help either. if harry's heading towards hogwarts then that means the diadem's most likely there. but where?'
evelyn felt her head hurt as she used too many of her brain cells.
there was no way she could slip something into bellatrix's drink as the woman was wary of drinking anything from the girl since last time.
evelyn then commanded dumbledore to go back into his grave and sleep.
she had to return home as the malfoys were probably starting on dinner. evelyn then mounted the broom and flew home, hurrying as she promised to be back before dinner.
she had hoped that harry, ron, and hermione were well, as she'll most likely be seeing them soon.
—✼—
harry, hermione, and ron had made a detour while going through hogsmeade.
the three had stopped at aberforth dumbledore's—albus dumbledore's younger brother's—little cottage.
ron and hermione immediately witnessed a hanging portrait of a beautiful lady. though it had seemed that the picture was still, her head moved ever so slightly with each step they took.
harry took out a piece of mirror that he's been carrying around for the entirety of their journey.
"harry, I can see your reflection in here", hermione pointed out as the cracked mirror on the wall indeed reflected harry's face.
"bloody fools! what were you thinking coming here? have you any idea how dangerous it is?", a man with a scruffy whitish-grayish beard spat as he came out the door.
"you're aberforth. dumbledore's brother", harry stated more than asking.
"it's you who I've been seeing in here. you're the one that sent dobby!"
"what've you got him?", aberforth asked.
"he's possibly at shell cottage with some of my friends right now", harry answered.
"who gave that to you?", harry asked, pointing at the broken mirror.
"mundungus fletcher. about a year ago", aberforth answered.
fletcher was the thief that the trio had met at the beginning of their journey when they had to transport harry to the burrow.
though he was known for stealing things, the man was loyal to dumbledore and the order.
"mundungus had no right selling that to you. it belongs to—"
"sirius", aberforth interrupted. "albus told me. he also told me that you'd likely be hacked off if you ever found out I had it. but ask yourself, where would you be if I hadn't", aberforth finished.
the man then placed some drinks and bread on the wobbly table, letting hermione and ron have at it.
though harry could not find it in himself to have an appetite.
"do you know anything about the order?", hermione asked.
"the order's finished. you-know-who's won anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves", aberforth answered.
"we need to get into hogwarts", harry said. "tonight. dumbledore gave us a job to do".
"oh did he now? nice job. easy", aberforth sarcastically replied.
"we've been hunting horcruxes. we think the last one's inside the castle but we need your help getting in".
"that job my brother's given you is a suicide mission. do yourself a favor boy. go home. live a little longer".
"dumbledore trusted me to see this through", harry quickly replied.
"what makes you think you can trust him? what makes you think you can believe anything my brother told you?! in all the time you knew him, did he ever mention my name?"
aberforth slightly paused.
"and did he ever mention hers?", he asked, pointing at the living portrait of the beautiful girl.
"why should he—"
"he keeps secrets; you tell me".
"I trusted him", harry answered.
"that's a boy's answer! a boy goes chasing horcruxes and 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. but 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".
"look, 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. we need to get into the castle tonight", harry determinedly said.
"you know what to do", aberforth said to the portrait, to which the girl nodded and left.
"where've you sent her?", harry softly asked.
"you'll see".
"that's your sister ariana isn't it? she died very young didn't she?", hermione asked, glancing at the now empty portrait.
"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", hermione said.
aberforth left as the trio waited for the lady in the portrait to come back.
"she's coming back. who's that with her??", ron asked, squinting his eyes.
the three slowly backed up as the portrait flew open.
"neville! what're you doing here?!", harry asked.
the boy smiled as he stepped out of the tunnel.
"we've got a few more coming through", neville said as he gave harry, ron, and hermione a hug.
the four smiled as aberforth reappeared with a drink in his hand.
the trio left with neville and walked inside the tunnel, ducking.
once they had reached the other side, the three were bemused.
all the students that were part of the d.a. organization that harry had created back in their fifth-year was here.
"everyone's been meeting secretly and practicing", neville proudly said.
even luna, dobby, and cedric was there. cedric apparently snuck back in to help out as he couldn't just leave the problem of voldemort unattended, despite his father's protest.
ginny, who hasn't seen the trio in months suddenly ran up to harry and hugged him.
"she hasn't seen me in 6 months and I'm her brother!", ron scoffed as he looked over at hermione who just smiled.
"everyone, I need all of you guy's help", harry suddenly said as everyone quieted down after cheering for the trio's appearance.
"I need to find an item", harry said, making everyone expect something more.
"so...what is it?", seamus finnigan asked.
"umm....I realized that there's not a lot of information that I can give. I don't know what it is or where it is, but I do know it's something important from ravenclaw", harry explained.
"perhaps it's the ravenclaw diadem", luna spoke up, making everyone confused.
"the ravenclaw diadem??"
"yeah, it's like a tiara. does no one know?"
"well the diadem disappeared a long time ago. no one knows where it is", cho said.
"we'll just have to search the entire castle", harry said.
"no matter what, we have to find it".
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