Six-year-old Ariana Dumbledore looked up at her eldest brother and smiled, thrusting a chubby, sticky hand into his. He smiled down at her, then make a face.
"You're hand's all sticky, Ari." He informed his little sister. She beamed up at the ten-year-old and pulled her hand from his, quickly sticking it in her mouth and sucking off the remnants of the muggle candy.
He continued walking towards the house, and she quickly followed. Albus began humming a slight, wordless tune to himself when... Ariana slipped her (now gooey) hand back into his. He looked down at her with wide eyes, quelling the urge to yank his hand back when he saw the adoring look on her face.
"All clean!" She laughed brightly. He laughed, and reached to pick her up, before thinking better of it. No telling whether she's get the grand idea to put her hands in his hair or not.
"A'bus," Ariana whined. He looked down at her, eyebrows raised questioningly. "I want more lemon drops."
"Ari. Baby sister," Albus called softly into the dimly lit room. The bed that was shoved into the farthest corner creaked slightly.
"... Albus? Isthatyou?" Ariane muttered sleepily. He laughed soundlessly and pushed the door the rest of the way in before slowly approaching the lump on the mattress that was Ariana.
"Who else?" He asked rhetorically. She yawned in response.
"I missed you."
"I missed you too, little sister. How've you been?" The bed creaked as he settled his slight weight on it, and Ariana propped herself up on her elbow, head resting in her hand.
"Tired. I-,"She hesitated, then finished with a note of pride, "-I haven't had an episode since you've been gone."
He hadn't come home for three weeks, leaving Alberforth to watch over their younger sister. Though he was only across town at Grindlewalds home, he hadn't felt the need to come back. If anything serious happened to occur, Alderforth would have let him know anyway. He reached a hand forward and stroked back her bangs.
"That's good, Ari baby sister," Then, mockingly, "I see how you are. You're just fine when I'm not home." She giggled slightly, half-halfheartedly in response. They remained silent for a good five minutes, Albus stroking her hair and Ariana sliding back into bed millimeters at a time. The corner of his mouth quirked as he realized what she was doing.
"Here. I brought you something," He reached into his robes and extracted a see-through plastic bag. Ariana gasped in delight. "Lemon drops! Oh, Albus! You didn't!" Even as she spoke she bolted upright, crossing her legs and reaching forward simultaneously. He chuckled, holding the bag of muggle sweets just out of her reach.
She pouted, crossing her arms in front of her blue cotton clad chest dramatically. "Lemon Drrrrooop!" She mewled, before jumping across his lap, straining her arms for the treats. "Pll-eeeeeeeeease? I've been so good!" Chuckling, he brought the bag within her reached, and she quickly grabbed it from him, sitting back upright and tearing the wrapping open, fishing in the bag for a lemon shaped, sugar coated, lemony flavored lemon drop. She popped it in her mouth and closed her eyes in pure ecstasy, sucking the flavor from the little muggle hard candy. He patted her head.
"I love you, Ari baby sister. I'll see you in the morning." He got up, and looked down sternly at the 14-year-old. "Don't forget to save some for the morning. I may or may not have gotten more than one bag. And don't forget to brush your teeth when you're finished for the night." She nodded enthusiastically.
"Goodnight, Lemon Drop! I love you too." Before he closed the door, she added, "And you best have gotten more than just one bag."
With a throaty chuckle, Albus pulled the door shut, and Ariana threw her head back on the pillow and bit into the hard candy just as the door clicked.
Finite incantatem.
AN: This is my take on why Albus was so hung up over the muggle candy. The idea of her loving lemon drops and even calling Albus Lemon Drop as a nickname has been in my head since... last night. She was six when attacked by the muggle children, but her addiction began before that. The second scene, when she's 14, is days, weeks, maybe months, before she died.