CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Harry, Ron, and Hermione Apparate to Hogsmeade, but a Caterwauling Charm screams, summoning Death Eaters. As dementors descend, they cannot Disapparate. Harry casts his stag Patronus to repel the dementors, exposing them.

A door opens at the Hog’s Head; the barman hustles them upstairs and confronts the Death Eaters outside, producing a horned Patronus and bluffing them into leaving. Inside, Harry recognizes the barman’s piercing blue eye from his mirror shard and realizes he is Aberforth Dumbledore, who had sent Dobby to help them at Malfoy Manor.

Aberforth urges them to abandon their mission and flee the country, denouncing Albus’s grand plans. Pressed by Hermione, he recounts Ariana’s childhood attack by Muggle boys, her unstable magic, their father’s imprisonment, their mother’s death in an accident, and Albus’s neglect while drawn into plans with Grindelwald. A confrontation between Aberforth, Albus, and Grindelwald led to a three‑way duel in which Ariana was killed.

Harry counters that Albus was never free of that guilt, recalling Dumbledore’s potion‑induced pleas on the cave island. Despite his bitterness, Aberforth relents when Harry insists he must enter Hogwarts to finish what Albus began.

Aberforth instructs Ariana’s portrait, which opens onto a hidden passage. From it emerges a battered, jubilant Neville Longbottom, who confirms he expected Harry’s arrival and is ready to lead them into Hogwarts.