A/N: Thanks to everybody who reviewed, favorited and followed this. I really appreciate it! Anywho, I do not own Harry Potter!

Harry looked around the room for the source of the voice before finding it at the very top of the room. It was one of the first portraits very high up in the room. There seemed to be only a few rows of portraits above him.

"Charlus, do you mind if we switch portraits? I don't want Harry to strain his neck too much trying to talk to me" the portrait laughed heartily as Charlus nodded and began to move swiftly through the portraits until he stood next to the man before bowing. The man followed exact same path down to Charlus's portrait. The man looked very familiar and he was sure he had seen him before.

"Hello Harry. I believe you may be wondering who I am. I also believe you may be wondering how we know so much about your life."

Harry just nodded so the man continued "I am Merlin."

Harry's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe that he was related to the Merlin.

Merlin only laughed before saying "Now the rest of this story is not really mine to tell without help but I will begin. When the gift of magic was first given to man it very much worked like Charlus explained. You see the men at the very top? Those men were some of the pioneers of magic and members of this family great family."

"Along the way Magic changed into what it is now. I understand why that change happened. Magic is much simpler with words that describe beliefs rather than just pure belief."

"If Magic now is easier than why have me learn the old way sir?" Harry asked as politely as he could.

"Wizards and witches have forgotten about basic magic Harry. Can you imagine what would happen if Voldemort was to cast a killing curse at you and you were to block it? He would start to lose that aura of invincibility that engulfs him and people finally would begin to fight back."

Harry nodded so Merlin continued. "Now back to our family history. My ancestors before me decided that it would be best to create portraits of ourselves to help future generations so that's how you get this room. However, long after I was dead a direct descendent of mine was killed before he could produce a male heir leaving his wife and daughter behind. His daughter would one day marry Ignotus Peverell, who instead of producing two male heirs for two separate families decided to just combine the families into one"

Much to Harry's surprise Merlin than got up without a word and went back to his own portrait. He watched in awe as he grandfather bowed again and walked to another portrait and traded places with that man.

The man got to Charlus's portrait and smiled at Harry brightly before continuing the story "I am Ignotus Peverell. Tell me Harry have you ever heard the tale of the three brothers?"

"No" Harry replied. He honestly didn't have a clue what Ignotus was talking about."

"My brothers and I were traveling to Egypt to study. On our way we came to a raging river that had no way to cross it. So we built a bridge only to be blocked by death himself who was angry that we did not fall. He promised us gifts but I knew better. My eldest brother was given a wand. He went on to kill one of his rivals and brag about the wand causing him to be murdered and the wand to be stolen. Death's gift to my eldest brother turned out to be nothing more than another way for him to claim his victims." Ignotus said pausing to take a breath.

"My second brother had lost his one true love and wanted to embarrass death for taking her from him so he asked for a way to recall loved ones from the grave. Death gave him a stone that he claimed would do just what my brother asked and gave him a stone. I later found out that the stone did just as death claimed it would do but soon my brother's love grew sad. She realized she did not belong here and wished to move on. My brother loved her so much he killed himself to be with her and death had finally gained his second victim. However the stone was lost and death could not pass his gift on to claim more victims."

"I myself knew that Death had revenge on his mind. He wanted nothing more than to watch us die and claim out souls for embarrassing him so I asked for a cloak that would hide me from him forever. He took the cloak off of his back and gave it to me and I hid. I later meant my wife Emily Aylwin. When we were married the goblins told her of her heritage and we came to this house and made it our home. I was exploring the place one day when I found these portraits. They taught me so much about magic but like you I was already used to the way magic is preformed now but I knew there was no way and gave up."

"I grew old and knew that death would claim me soon as he previously did my wife so I called to him and told him I was ready. I fully expected him to be angry with me for evading him all this time but to my great surprise he told me that I taught him a lesson that he needed to be taught. Anyway, he decided to give me a gift to pass on to my family and I chose knowledge. With death's help I was able to capture take everything these great men have ever learned and put it to that ring you see behind you. He also made it possible so that the ring would absorb the knowledge of everybody who ever put it on after. "

"Knowledge never dies" Harry whispered softly to himself finally realizing what it meant.

"Precisely Harry. This ring now gives the wearer a ten thousand year old magic base and with it you will be able to perform magic based on pure belief. You will also gain countless life experiences and the ability to perform Occlumency, a form of magic protecting the mind, although it will be up to you to build your defenses. However it is not to be confused with the family rings. Those just give you political knowledge and family spells, this gives you everything."

"I would also like to tell you that it was because of an old friend we were able to keep track of your life. Fawkes belongs to house Peverell and because of marriage house Potter. He has been spying on a lot of the younger heirs of this family for us for a long time. Dumbledore isn't the man you think he is Harry but I suppose your father will want to tell you more about that."

Harry was floored but was confused at the same time. If that was the case then why… he turned to his father for answers. "Why couldn't you defeat Voldemort then dad?"

"I never put the ring on because when my father died your mother was pregnant plus Dumbledore had just told us about the prophecy. Think about it Harry, when you put on that ring your teaching yourself ten thousand years of information. You are basically in a coma for however long it takes your brain to accumulate the information. It could be months or maybe even years before you finally woke up. I didn't want to leave your mother alone for that long. James said.

"What prophecy?" Harry asked curiously.

"You mean Dumbledore never told you?" James asked obviously furious which got worse when Harry shook his head.

"It seems like Dumbledore is more of a monster than I thought. Before I died I found out some things about him Harry and I doubted them but because of the information Fawkes has given us I know them to be true. Dumbledore is an evil man. He made Grindelwald into the monster he was because he knew he could beat him. Then he turned around created Voldemort hoping to be able to beat him and become greater than Merlin himself. Voldemort got out of control so he intends on using you to weaken him and then defeating him himself making you a martyr in the process. Everything that happened to you in your life has been setup by him. He wants nothing more than fame, glory and revenge on muggles for destroying his sister" James said.

Harry went still and his eyes flashed dangerously. Deep down he wasn't all that surprised but that didn't stop it from hurting. He had trusted him, and now that Harry had known the truth Dumbledore would never get his trust back. Dumbledore was dead as far as Harry was concerned but something else was bothering him.

"What about Ron and Hermione?" Harry asked quietly. He didn't want it to be true but didn't want to leave it up to chance.

"No Harry. They are your friends. Dumbledore did ask Molly to look out for you in the train station but that was all. Everything else is completely genuine. I even suspect Ron will need you more than ever soon."

Harry was relived but now knew what he had to do. He walked to the ring and circled it. It seemed to call out to him, longing to put on. He reached out to it and put it on. At first he was confused but then he faded slowly into the blackness. Death smiled.

Ron Weasley lied alone in the grass crying softly, hoping that no one would come to look for him. Sure if they found him he would lie effortlessly and blame it on the fact that Harry was gone. He supposed that he was supposed to be happy all it felt like was that the stone noose had let go of one thing and tightened its grip around his neck, slowly choking the life out of him. Harry being gone didn't really help either.

Although it felt good to be home and away from that dirty old home, where days were gloomy at best and nights were nightmares, he almost wished Sirius never went missing in the first place. Maybe then things wouldn't have changed. Maybe then he would go back to being jealous of Harry. Now he knew what it felt like and quite frankly he didn't want it. The noose tightened.

His tears dried instantly at the sound of grass rustling gently and wondered who could be coming to look for him. His face instantly lit up at the sight of her, she was the most beautiful thing his eyes had ever seen. He wanted so badly to scream to the rooftops and tell her how he felt but didn't have to guts too. Well until now, life was too short to delay anything. The noose made it hard to breathe.

"Ron" she said softly, her angelic voice loosened the noose for a second but it would not lose, especially when he couldn't tell her. Well he could, but would she still see him the same way? He wasn't even sure she felt the same way about him without knowing, would knowing change it? He frowned doing his best as the tears were fighting furiously to break down the dam, but his ego wouldn't let them. Not in front of her. He felt his neck crack.

"Are you okay?" she asked and when she got no response lied down next to him and grabbed his hand in hers. His inside's exploded with happiness and suddenly the noose let go completely. Maybe life wouldn't be so bad if only he could live the rest of it with her. He let out a sigh, the only hint of an emotion he had shown since it happened.

"He wouldn't want you to be like this you know" his bushy haired beauty said softly. She was right of course, but he didn't believe it. He couldn't come to grips with the fact that his best friend could be dead. It didn't make sense and for some reason, when Dumbledore told the story, the old man lost some of his allure. This was once this ring around Dumbledore that made him untouchable, it didn't seem that way anymore. Partly because his mind dissected Dumbledore's logic easily like it was butter. It was almost too easy. Life would be boring then. He frowned; the noose began to tighten again.

"He isn't gone Hermione" he said with less confidence then he would have hoped. He continued anyway "Harry once told us that Dumbledore told him that the reason he had to go back there was to recharge the wards. If the wards failed like Dumbledore claims, then he wasn't there to charge them in the first place. Hopefully Sirius got him."

"Why would Dumbledore lie?" Hermione replied quickly but it was uncertain. He sighed in defeat. He didn't really feel like arguing with her. He saw this with her a lot; people in authority were like gods to her. Nothing they said could be wrong. It was hard to breathe again.

He was silent again. He hoped that he could just enjoy her company but the uncertainty of the future made it so hard to just relax especially when he had so many questions that it seemed no one could answer because this just became too much of a routine for them. Now they just watched helplessly as the stone noose tightened around his neck. Good thing goblins existed.

A slight breeze picked up and turned his attention back to her as the wonderful smells of her hair entered his nose. He wanted to tell her, he really did but was now the right time? Yes, he decided. It was now or never. Maybe then he could finally the weight would life and he could breathe.

"Harry being gone made me realized some things" he lied easily, way too easily for his liking. He sighed heavily before continuing truthfully "It made me realize that I Lo-"

"But Harry isn't gone right?" she interrupted softly.

He stopped breathing.

A/N:As always reviews are welcome!