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Dumbledore opened the door to Minerva’s house and turned toward the kitchen. He saw her packing her things. “So are you planning to go through with it?” he asked.
“Yes,” she answered.
“What about Harry?”
“I’m leaving him in your care.”
“And the wand?”
She stopped packing and stood silent for a moment.
“Minerva,” Dumbledore said, “what about the wand?”
She felt for her pocket. “I-I-I’m going to leave it to Harry along with the rest of the stuff.”
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Harry and Ron sat at a table watching Fred and George try to wrestle. It wasn’t going very well. They were trying to do it on a narrow table and Fred kept falling off. On the last try, Fred fell off and he dragged George down with him so they both quit.
“Ron, do you want some more butterbeer?” Harry asked.
“No, I think I’m going to start to head back.”
“Alright, I’ll go with you.”
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“Well,” Minerva said while looking up at Dumbledore, “I’m ready to be off.”
“Where’s the wand?”
“Oh…uh…it’s on the mantel,” she answered.
When Dumbledore turned toward the mantelpiece to pick up the wand, she ran out the door.
“Minerva, I don’t see it.” Dumbledore turned around and he saw that she was gone. “MINERVA MCGONAGALL!”
Minerva heard him and started running faster but she didn’t get much farther. She had run into something hard and landed on her bottom. When she looked up she saw Dumbledore.
“Where do you think you're going?” he asked.
“Away………from here?” she answered, kind of unsure.
“You still have the wand.”
“Oh yeah.”
“Give it to me.”
“You just want it for yourself!” Minerva yelled.
“I think you’ve had that wand long enough.”
“I WON’T GIVE IT TO YOU!!!!!!!!!” She started laughing like a maniac.
Dumbledore glared at her and she stopped laughing. “Sorry,” she said, “I guess you should take the wand.” She pulled the wand out of her bag and handed it to him.
“Thank you,” he said, “now you can be on your way.”
“Good bye,” she said and gave Dumbledore a hug.
“Good bye, old friend.”
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Harry walked into the house and saw Dumbledore sitting by the fire.
“She’s gone hasn’t she?” Harry asked.
“Yes,” Dumbledore answered, “she has gone, but she did leave you this.” Dumbledore handed Harry the wand.
“There’s something about this wand, Harry,” Dumbledore said.
“What is it?” Harry asked.
“If I tell you this, will you promise not to tell anyone?”
“Yes.”
“The wand was carved by a very powerful wizard, Harry. This wizard put a lot of himself in this wand. When a war came, he fought and gained more and more power. When he lost this wand, there was a battle. It took place shortly after he had conquered most of Middle Earth. He appeared in front and destroyed most of the army but one man stood up to him. Before the man died, he chopped off this wizard’s hand.”
“And who is this wizard?”
“Voldemort.”
“By using this wand…” Dumbledore paused and then continued, “Minerva has unleashed the wrath of Voldemort and he will continue to search until he finds his wand. Which, at the moment, lies with you.”
Harry just stared at him dumbstruck so he continued to explain. “That means that you must leave the Shire and go and destroy the wand.”
“How exactly do I do this?”
“You must destroy it in a duel against Voldemort.”
Harry continued to stare at him, "You expect me to fight the most powerful wizard?"
"Yes," said Dumbledore calmly.
"Well...okay. You talked me into it."
"That’s gre..." Dumbledore stopped he walked towards the window, opened the shutters, and pulled someone up and on to the floor. Harry looked down and saw his friend Ronald Weasley. "Ron, what are you doing here?"
"Oh…uh…hi Harry," said Ron, "I was just out in the...hedges... and thought I’d um stop by for a..."
"That's enough, Mr. Weasley. How much of that did you hear?" asked Dumbledore.
"All of it."
"Great. Then you can go with Harry."
"I mean I heard absolutely nothing."
"I don't think so, your going."
Ron looked very disappointed. Harry walked over to Ron and put his arm around him. "It's OK, Ron. Just think about you and me travelin' together. Maybe havin' some laughs. Possibly dying some horrible death. Wouldn't that be great?" Now Ron was extremely pale.
Dumbledore rolled his eyes. "OK, you two better start packing. The faster you leave, the happier we’ll all be."
"What?" Harry asked looking up.
"Oh…uh…nothing! Let’s start to pack. I think it's best if you two are able to leave as soon as possible."
They all started to pack, well Dumbledore didn't but you get the point.
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"Well," Harry said, "I guess this is good bye."
"Not exactly, Harry. I will meet you at a certain point in your journey," said Dumbledore.
"Well then," said Ron, "we will see you at that certain point."
Harry and Ron began to walk down the road. Once they had reached the middle, they both turned around and waved to Dumbledore, who waved back. Harry looked at Ron and asked him, "What do you think is going to happen to us?"
"Harry," Ron said, "I don't really want to think about that now. I mean, it's all your fault I got dragged into this thing."
"Ron, you were sitting outside my window. How is that my fault?"
"Oh…right."
They continued to walk on until, all of a sudden, Ron stopped. He looked extremely scared.
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