Bilius and Martha Dumbledore were your average nineteenth century couple living on a twenty acre farm in Northern England. Bilius, a hard-working herdsman, and Martha, a bustling homemaker, had 8 children. They were: Celeste – a sixteen year old who bosses her younger siblings around, Estelle – an 1850s fashion queen who happened to be fourteen, Aberforth – a twelve year old loner, Albus – the ten year old oddball, Giselle – the nine year old future literary prize winner, Salome – a four year old reporter in the making, and Isolde – a toddling flower child of one. Bilius Dumbledore possessed as much magical confidence as Neville Longbottom and Martha Dumbledore did not use magic. Though a very accomplished witch, she preferred to run her household cooking and cleaning by good hard work, and expected her sons and daughters to do the same.
"Ali! Ali? Celeste, child, where is your brother?" asked Mrs. Dumbledore, as she squeezed out the shirts and hung them to dry. Laundry was a favorite pastime of Martha's. It was her time to reflect on her day. However, today was Albus's day to help with the chores.
"He's not in the house, Mama," yelled Celeste, back to her mother, and turned back into the house. "He's probably out on the moor, with Aber, playing with the billy goats."
That boy, she thought to herself. He was always out in the fields. Every chance he got! Straightening the shirts out on the clothes line, she returned to the house. Their house was not a manor. It wasn't even close. Even though she could use magic to get whatever she wanted, she thought of this as a way of cheating herself and her children. Isolde, her youngest, was a surprise child. Bilius and she didn't plan on having this one. Salome was to be the last one. Celeste was born when she and Bilius graduated from Hogwarts. Estelle made her appearance two years later, and then the boys came. Aberforth and then Albus. It was wonder they weren't born as twins. And then Giselle completed the line of girls.
Albus was the child she most often wondered about. The rest of the children were well grounded, but it seems like he was often off somewhere. His siblings called him Albus the Oddball or Albus the airhead. Her name for him was Ali. Truthfully, he was her favorite son, but she could never show that in front of the others. Ali was the one who made her smile, and with eight children and tons of stress, that didn't happen very often.
"Momma," asked Estelle, coming into the room. Noticing her mother was holding Isolde and was rocking her in the chair with her eyes closed, "Are you okay?"
Mrs. Dumbledore opened her eyes and smiled at her second eldest child. "Sure, darling, I'm fine. Take your sister," she said, handing Isolde to Estelle,"and I'm going to go find your brothers."
"They're out by Blackbird Pond, Momma," said Estelle, taking Isolde and putting her on the patchwork quilt. "Aber said he wanted to show Albus something out there."
"WHAT? Blackbird Pond? Oh dear!" said Mrs. Dumbledore, immediately getting up and tying her bonnet.
Leaving the house at a brisk pace was hard in many layered skirts. Blackbird Pond was known as the pond that everybody stayed away from, mainly because nobody knew what resided in that pond and there was a queer old hermit who lived near the pond. Mrs. Dumbledore didn't want her children associating with such people.
