The brothers broke apart after a long hug, both talking at once about what had happened to each of them, which involved the bad news of Voldemort getting his hands on the Elder Wand.

"You got your Stone Sleep back?"

"Yeah, my friend gave me an amulet to help, look!" Brooklyn put the amulet around himself, and willed his body to turn to Stone for only a couple minutes. Ron stared, his first time ever seeing his friend as a full statue. He broke through again once his minute was up, stretching out his body.

"Wow!" Breathed Hermione, amazed at how the Stone Sleep worked. Brooklyn smiled at her for complimenting their ability.

"So you guys found another Horcrux then?" He then asked.

Harry grinned, pulling out a golden cup with a badger on it, Hufflepuff's cup. Already Brooklyn could sense the Dark Magic on it.

"Where did you find this Horcrux that involved flying on an Ukranian Ironbelly?" Brooklyn then asked suspiciously. Harry looked rather embarrassed and guilty.

"Uh... we kinda broke into Gringotts and Bellatrix's vault," he admitted. Brooklyn's eyes shone a bright white.

"You WHAT?!" He bellowed. His own brother had pulled off a dangerous and foolish Horcrux Heist without him? "That was insane! You could've been killed or worse!" He shouted further.

"I know, but we had to get the Horcrux," Harry protested. Brooklyn still felt pretty mad, but then knew Harry was right, at least they made it out alive, that was all that mattered, plus they were back together again. So all he did in retaliation was hug him again.

"Um, Brook, who's this guy?" Ron asked nervously at seeing Macbeth there, who had his arms crossed.

"Oh, he and I traveled together after he rescued me from more Snatchers. Everyone, meet Macbeth," Brooklyn introduced. Ron and Harry both said hi, but Hermione was open mouthed, for she immediately recognized the person from her readings of Shakespeare!

"Y-your really Macbeth?" She gasped silently, having a mini freak out. Ron had moaned, knowing she wouldn't stop geeking out about this guy.

"Indeed I am, lass, a pleasure to meet you," Macbeth replied, smiling at her. Instantly she began to talk to him, and meanwhile Harry gave Brooklyn more updates on what he learned about the next Horcrux.

"I believe the next Horcrux, something from Ravenclaw is at Hogwarts, we need to head there as soon as we can," Harry informed, while Brooklyn stared. Was his little brother wanting a death wish right after Gringotts?

"Just walking into the front door of Hogwarts is suicide, Harry! I'm sure you have a plan?" He asked. Harry shrugged.

"An in progress plan, we can Apparate into Hogsmeade first so we can find a place to hide and a way to get in from there," he said. That's when Brooklyn noticed the sword of Gryffindor was missing.

"Where's the sword?" He questioned in confusion. Ron then looked pretty pissed.

"That dirty little Griphook took it from us then locked us in the vault," he growled, sending a rush of anger in Brooklyn, hard to imagine Griphook helping them at the Manor then backstabbing his friends later!

Harry also revealed about how he learned about the next Horcrux by seeing Voldemort's memories. Both Hermione and Brooklyn had scolded him about it, but then gave up, for usually it was pointless to argue with Harry.

"Brook, since some of his Horcruxes are now gone, my connection with him now feels, disconnected. I can occasionally see moments, but not as clear as it used to."

"Do you think he's dying, because we're destroying his souls?" Brooklyn asked.

"Dunno, more like we're just wounding him, from my view," Harry said. Hermione then came over to Brooklyn, who now felt rather awkward, thinking about that nightmare he had.

"Brooklyn, before you say anything, Ron told me, he told me about how you would probably feel, and would blame yourself."

Brooklyn chuckled sadly. "You know me too well, huh?" He asked, before his smile faded.

"It still isn't your fault for all that, Brooklyn. It was just bad luck that got us into that mess, involving you in it. But I will still be your friend, no matter what we go through together," Hermione said softly, giving Brooklyn that hug she longed to do ever since being separated. Brooklyn felt tears of relief coming down, as Ron and Harry also joined in with a group hug.

Macbeth smiled at the sight. These four really saw themselves as a family, siblings.

....

Eventually the gang Apparated to Hogsmeade, a Caterwauling immediately starting up, that was an alarm to alert the Death Eaters. The five of them quickly hid behind a barrel, hiding under the Invisibility Cloak too which surprisingly covered them all. Macbeth himself really liked the design of this cloak.

Death Eaters surrounded the place, as well as Dementors, unfortunately, that resulted in Harry to throw out his Patronus.

"It's Potter! He's here! That was his Stag Patronus I saw!" Shouted one. Luckily for them a familiar old man stepped up to tell the Death Eaters to leave, even displaying his goat Patronus before guiding the five heroes into the Hog's Head.

He was nice enough to hand out food, bread and cheese with butter beer. Brooklyn drank his share, the wonderful buttery liquid going down his throat after months without being able drinking something so beautiful. It seemed to melt away all the pain and loneliness from his travels. But then he noticed the photo of Ariana, a beautiful young woman and Dumbledore's late sister.

"Who are you?" Brooklyn ventured to ask, even though he already knew the answer. This was Dumbledore's brother.

"Aberforth, and there's no need to ask who you lot are, Dobby wouldn't stop speaking about you."

"You sent Dobby and Fawkes?" Harry gasped.

"I didn't send Fawkes, he came to tell me then I sent the both of them to get you," Aberforth grunted. Brooklyn smiled, so it had not just been Fawkes.

"Thank you," he said. Aberforth rolled his eyes.

"Bah, no need to thank me. But where's Dobby?" He asked. The friends looked down except Macbeth, who never got to meet the house elf.

"He's dead," Brooklyn said, remembering the knife hitting Dobby. Aberforth looked solemn.

"Oh, sorry to hear it. Liked that elf. Helped around here quite a bit."

Brooklyn couldn't help but smile thinking about Dobby helping out Aberforth. Even though he was free, Dobby still helped others.

"Have you heard from the Order?" Hermione asked, and Aberforth looked down.

"The Order's finished, You-Know-Who has won. Many of us are in hiding right now," he mumbled. "Yeh can stay here until things quiet down, then I can get you lot out of here by sunrise—."

"No, we need to get into Hogwarts, tonight," Harry protested. Aberforth looked astonished.

"It's suicide, to break in now! You need to get as far away as possible!" He said.

But Brooklyn shook his head. "We have to, sir. Dum-I mean, your brother, he-he gave us a mission to do, and it's important for us to get in," he said.

Aberforth frowned. "My brother gave you two a job, huh? Nice and easy, isn't it?" He grumbled. The brothers looked at one another.

"He sent us to hunt Horcruxes, and we think the next one is hidden in the castle, but we need your help getting in." Harry said.

Aberforth rolled his eyes. "Typical of him to do. Always sending others on dangerous quests, it's a suicide mission, Potter and gargoyle. Do yourselves a favor and get out of the country, get away from the war."

Brooklyn growled. "We have no intention of running, Aberforth Dumbledore. Dumbledore gave us this job, and only the two of us can finish it!"

"Had he told you everything? What about mentioning his only brother, or his sister?" Grumbled Aberforth. Brooklyn didn't know how to respond, except looking over at Ariana's portrait.

"Kept secrets, my brother did. He wanted a lot of things, involving people getting hurt in the process of his 'grand plans.' Seems as though you two were one of his victims," Aberforth said bitterly.

"No, you don't understand, we trusted him," Brooklyn said. "He trusted me enough to leave me Fawkes in his will."

Aberforth crossed his arms. "You seriously think he still cares, even if he gave you his bird?"

"Are you talking about Ariana?" Hermione asked.

"Your sister?" Macbeth spoke up. Aberforth looked pretty distressed, as he stood up and walked about.

"When my sister was six years old, she was attacked, by three Muggle boys. They'd seen her doing magic, spying through the back garden hedge: She was a kid, she couldn't control it, no witch or wizard can at that age. What they saw, scared them, I expect. They forced their way through the hedge, and when she couldn't show them the trick, they got a bit carried away trying to stop the little freak doing it."

Brooklyn felt like he wanted to throw up at this, while his friends and brother were quite shocked and angry. Aberforth took in shuddering breaths before continuing.

"It destroyed her, what they did: She was never right again. She wouldn't use magic, but she couldn't get rid of it; it turned inward and drove her mad, it exploded out of her when she couldn't control it, and at times she was strange and dangerous. But mostly she was sweet and scared and harmless.

"And my father went after the bastards that did it," said Aberforth, "and attacked them. And they locked him up in Azkaban for it. He never said why he'd done it, because the Ministry had known what Ariana had become, she'd have been locked up in St. Mungo's for good. They'd have seen her as a serious threat to the International Statute of Secrecy, unbalanced like she was, with magic exploding out of her at moments when she couldn't keep it in any longer.

"We had to keep her safe and quiet. We moved house, put it about she was ill, and my mother looked after her, and tried to keep her calm and happy.

I was her favorite," he said, and as he said it, a grubby schoolboy seemed to look out through Aberforth's wrinkles and wrangled beard. "Not Albus, he was always up in his bedroom when he was home, reading his books and counting his prizes, keeping up with his correspondence with "the most notable magical names of the day," Aberforth succored.

"He didn't want to be bothered with her. She liked me best. I could get her to eat when she wouldn't do it for my mother, I could calm her down, when she was in one of her rages, and when she was quiet, she used to help me feed the goats."

Brooklyn then couldn't help but smile just a little. "Is that why your Patronus is a goat, because of the way she helped you feed them?" He asked curiously. Aberforth gave Brooklyn an interesting gaze before he continued his story.

"In a way... when she was fourteen... See, I wasn't there." Said Aberforth. "If I'd been there, I could have calmed her down. She had one of her rages, and my mother wasn't as young as she was, and...it was an accident. Ariana couldn't control it. But my mother was killed."

Hermione put a hand over her mouth, while Macbeth looked mournful. Brooklyn and Harry were both stricken looking, and Brooklyn could sense memories of his smashed parents threatening to come, but he shut his eyes, taking steady breathing, continuing to listen.

"So that put paid to Albus's trip round the world with little Doge. The pair of 'em came home for my mother's funeral and then Doge went off on his own, and Albus settled down as head of the family. Ha!"

Aberforth spat into the fire.

"I'd have looked after her, I told him so, I didn't care about school, I'd have stayed home and done it. He told me I had to finish my education and he'd take over from my mother. Bit of a comedown for Mr. Brilliant, there's no prizes for looking after your half-mad sister, stopping her blowing up the house every other day. But he did all right for a few weeks . . . till he came."

Brooklyn could already guess who it was, narrowing his eyes.

"Grindelwald. And at last, my brother had an equal to talk to someone just as bright and talented he was. And looking after Ariana took a backseat then, while they were hatching all their plans for a new Wizarding order and looking for Hallows, and whatever else it was they were so interested in. Grand plans for the benefit of all Wizardkind, and if one young girl neglected, what did that matter, when Albus was working for the greater good?

But after a few weeks of it, I'd had enough, I had. It was nearly time for me to go back to Hogwarts, so I told 'em, both of 'em, face-to-face, like I am to you, now."

Aberforth looked at the brothers. Brooklyn found it hard to imagine Aberforth as a young wild teen boy, confronting his elder brother.

"I told him, you'd better give it up now. You can't move her, she's in no fit state, you can't take her with you, wherever it is you're planning to go, when you're making your clever speeches, trying to whip yourselves up a following. He didn't like that," Said Aberforth, and his eyes were briefly occluded by the fireflight on the lenses of his glasses: They turned white and blind again.

"Grindelwald didn't like that at all. He got angry. He told me what a stupid little boy I was, trying to stand in the way of him and my brilliant brother . . . Didn't I understand, my poor sister wouldn't have to be hidden once they'd changed the world, and led the wizards out of hiding, and taught the Muggles their place?

"And there was an argument... and I pulled my wand, and he pulled out his, and I had the Cruciatus Curse used on me by my brother's best friend – and Albus was trying to stop him, and then all three of us were dueling, and the flashing lights and the bangs set her off, she couldn't stand it – "

The color was draining from Aberforth's face as though he had suffered a mortal wound.

"– and I think she wanted to help, but she didn't really know what she was doing, and I don't know which of us did it, it could have been any of us – and she was dead."

Brooklyn lowered his head, feeling tears coming down, while Hermione said sorry as Aberforth sat down clumsily in a chair.

"Gone," croaked Aberforth. "Gone forever."

He wiped his nose on his cuff and cleared his throat.

'Course, Grindelwald scarpered. He had a bit of a track record already, back in his own country, and he didn't want Ariana set to his account too. And Albus was free, wasn't he? Free of the burden of his sister, free to become the greatest wizard of the – "

"He was never free," Harry suddenly spoke up, much to Aberforth's surprise. Brooklyn nodded.

"You should know, that, he still blamed himself for Ariana's death. The night he died, your brother drank this potion that made him go crazy. He kept crying out 'don't hurt them, kill me instead," the gargoyle explained, with the other three looking surprised. Macbeth especially, for Brooklyn never told him this part of his story.

"He thought he was back there with you and Grindelwald, I know he did," Harry said, and Brooklyn remembered struggling to hold Dumbledore, the pained look on the man's face, while crying out not to hurt them.

"Yeah, so if you said he was free, you were wrong about that," he added, while Aberforth was lost in thought before speaking again.

"How can you be sure, Potter and gargoyle, that my brother wasn't more interested in the greater good than in you? How can you be sure you two aren't dispensable, just like my little sister?"

But Brooklyn still couldn't believe Dumbledore thought of them as dispensable. If he did, he wouldn't have bothered to try and help him get home, right?

He was snapped from his thoughts as Harry spoke again.

"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."

Brooklyn watched with bated breath as Aberforth paced for a moment, before giving a slow nod, turning to Ariana's portrait.

"You know what to do," he murmured. She smiled, getting up. And Brooklyn stared, watching as Ariana surprisingly didn't move off to the side like the other portraits, but into a tunnel behind her. The gang all looked questioningly at Aberforth.

"There's only one way into Hogwarts now, for every other exit is blocked, and Dementors surrounding all sides from what my sources told me. You'll see in a moment," Aberforth explained.

Then Ariana began coming back, and Brooklyn's eyes widened as he saw two others with her, growing bigger and bigger until the painting opened up, revealing a hole.

And what appeared in the hole, it was just too unbelievable. Neville Longbottom and Lexington, all covered in bruises, and a scratch on Lex's arm. But huge smiles were present on their faces, and Lexington charged into Brooklyn's arms from the portrait's entrance, tackling his rookery brother to the floor again like when they first reunited, while Neville reached out with his arms in greeting after jumping down from the precipice.

"I knew you two would come! I knew it, Harry and Brooklyn!"