Author's Note: This was written for Round 4 of the Test Your Limits Competition II.
PROMPT: Phlegethon
Phlegethon is the river of Fire.
You will be using the unreliable narrator technique for this round.
I chose Ariana Dumbledore as my unreliable narrator due to her mental instability. This is written in the style of Benjy's section in Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury because I love it so much. Basically, it jumps between different events because they all get muddled together in her mind. The markings indicate time jumps, and hopefully it's not too hard to follow. :)
Ariana was the Dumbledore family's broken princess. Instead of a tower, she had a small cottage in Godric's Hollow. Instead of a dragon, she had a mother, and two older brothers, but Ariana waited for no prince. Her entire world consisted of that small cottage, with the cream walls and dark curtains. Her only friends were her dolls and her brother Aberforth. Albus played with her sometimes, but he was usually gone. She didn't know where.
/\/\/\/\/\
"Ariana! What are you doing here! Why aren't you in the house!"
/\/\/\/\/\
"Where does Albus go when he's not here?" Ariana asked suddenly. Aberforth's mouth twisted into a frown and his brow furrowed.
"He's with his... friend. Don't worry about him. He's perfectly capable of taking care of himself," he assured her. "Not to mention he doesn't care for anyone except himself," Aberforth muttered.
/\/\/\/\/\
Ariana was in the living room humming quietly to herself on the divan by the fireplace when Albus came back. He was preoccupied with a strange pendant.
"All the things we will do," he whispered to himself with a small smile.
"What's that, Albus?" she asked. He jumped and hid the pendant behind him with a guilty look.
"Nothing. It's just a necklace," he answered quickly.
"A necklace?" she repeated, wrinkling her forehead. "Can I see?" Albus hesitated for a moment before handing it to her.
It was a simple silver pendant hung on a leather cord. A line contained within a circle inside a triangle. She held it up and spun it, watching as it caught the light. Albus watched her with trepidation, his hands twitching as if he were about to snatch it back.
"It's pretty," she said finally, handing it back to him. He immediately put it around his neck, making sure to tuck it under the collar of his shirt.
/\/\/\/\/\
"It's them isn't it? They're the reason you won't join me. Can't you see, Albus? They're only holding you back." Gellert slowly moved his wand from Albus, to Aberforth, who stood in front of Ariana.
"No, Gellert! Leave them out of this! It's me you want!"
/\/\/\/\/\
"He's dangerous, Albus," Aberforth hissed.
"No, he's not," Albus argued. "He's brilliant. You don't know how much good we will do together, he and I."
Even though they were separated by her bedroom door, and she lay curled under her covers, Ariana could imagine the almost fanatic look that Albus always had when he talked about his plans. His eyes held that glint that held you tight in their grasp like a snake about to strike.
"Mark my words, no good will come of your association with him," Aberforth warned. "And keep him away from the house. I don't want him around Ariana." Albus snorted.
"As if I'd want him around her anyway. I wouldn't want him to know about her condition."
/\/\/\/\/\
Glass lay shattered around her, and the curtains blew inwards with a breeze that shouldn't have been there. Ariana shook her head in confusion. What happened?
"Ari, you need to calm down," Aberforth instructed slowly, in a soothing tone. Ariana looked at him startled, not understanding his caution. She was further confused to see both her brothers standing a good distance away from her, with their wands drawn against her. What happened?
/\/\/\/\/\
Ariana watched with wide eyes as Aberforth stood, chest heaving, glaring down at their older brother. Albus sat on the ground, rubbing his quickly bruising jaw with shock.
"If you think that she's an embarrassment then just leave," he spat. "You don't care about her. You've never cared about her anyway. We don't need you. I can take care of Arianna, and you can go skip off into the sunset with your beloved Gellert. Just abandon your family. I know you were planning on it anyway." Silence followed his pronouncement until Albus slowly picked himself off the floor and left the house without another word.
Aberforth turned to face her, sorrow in his eyes.
"Ari, I'm so sorry you had to hear that." Ariana darted out the door after her eldest brother. As she took her first step outside in eight years, she was first blinded by the sunlight which seemed ungodly bright compared to the dim candlelight that lit the house. She only hesitated for a moment though, before continuing after her brother.
/\/\/\/\/\
"What do you mean you're not coming with me?" Gellert demanded furiously. "We had everything planned out. We would find the Hallows and then we would set the world to right. You and me. Together. We would make sure nothing ever happened again like what happened to your sister, remember?"
"I- I can't, Gell. I just can't," Albus moaned. "You don't understand. I can't just leave them." Gellert closed the distance between them and gripped Albus' shoulders tight. He leaned forward so that his forehead touched Albus'.
"Yes you can," he whispered. "They'll understand. It's for their own good." Albus pulled away, shaking his head in denial. Gellert grew abruptly furious.
"If you're not with me, you're my enemy, Albus," he warned, his voice low and dangerous. "Don't put me in that position." He slowly pulled his wand out of his pocket, and red sparks flew from the end as he gripped it. Ariana gasped, and Gellert's head whipped towards the bush she was hiding behind.
/\/\/\/\/\
"Why can't I go outside, Abe?" Arianna asked wistfully as she grasped one of the many curtains that blocked her from the outside world.
"You know why," he sighed. And she did. They'd had this conversation more times than either could count, but she still looked up at him expectantly with those wide, guileless eyes. "It's not safe. Not safe for you, and not safe for everyone else," he told her in a practiced, but tired voice.
/\/\/\/\/\
Gellert and Albus traded spells back and forth, as Aberforth carefully shielded himself and Ariana. The spells were sometimes green, sometimes red, sometimes wordless, and always deadly. The two were evenly matched, and neither showed any signs of , both fired spells at the same time - green ones that could be nothing but the deadliest of Unforgivables, and it was at that moment that Ariana slipped out of Aberforth's grip and darted between the dueling wizards.
"Ariana, no!" Aberforth cried in agony, reaching out for her a second too late. A second too late and her body hit the ground, not moving, not blinking, not breathing. He raced towards her, cradling her in his lap. "No, no, no," he whispered over and over to himself as tears streaked down his face.
So caught up was he in his agony, that he didn't notice the spells had stopped. He didn't notice anything else until Albus fell to his knees beside him. He faintly heard the tell-tale pop of disapparation that must have been Gellert. Albus reached a shaky hand out towards Ariana but was stopped by Aberforth's furious glare.
"This is all your fault!" he screamed. "You. Your selfishness. Your- your plans. I told you. I warned you about him. You never listened to me. You didn't care. And now she's gone," he screamed, the last words naught but a mournful wail. Albus was silent.
"For what it's worth, I did care. I loved her. I've always loved her. She's my sister too," he whispered, and then hesitated. "Did you see which spell hit her. Was it," he gulped, "was it mine or Gellert's?" Aberforth shook his head.
"I don't know," he whispered.