A/n: Written for Round 10 of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. Captain Prompt: Ariana Dumbledore (Portrait). "You may write about your character in their human life if you wish, however he or she must feature as their ghost or portrait self somewhere in your story."

Written for Round 1 of the Around the Globe Challenge. Location: St Pauli Piers in Hamburg, Germany. Path C: Write about a character(s) who plays/played an important role in (wizarding) history.

To be noted: I have pushed forward the time when Ariana's magic goes berserk, her father gets imprisoned in Azkaban, and the Dumbledores move to Godric's Hollow, so despite Albus being around 12-years-old in this story, the bullying incident only happens at the very end. (This only holds good for the normal text. Italicised text follows the timeline after Albus leaves school, Kendra's death, and Albus meets Gellert.)

Glass Animals

Ariana watched from her hiding spot as her mother placed a large crystal figurine on the mantelpiece. She tried to make out what the statuette was, but couldn't. Her mother stepped back and sighed, clasping her hands together as she eyed the showpiece.

"Kendra!" her father called just then, and her mother hastened out, casting one final, lingering gaze at the glass statue.

Ariana slipped out from behind the door and crept up to the fireplace. She pulled a stool over and clambered onto it, placing her hands on the edge of the mantel as she peered at the figure curiously.

"A… bird?" she whispered, her breath clouding the surface of the glass as she leant closer for a better look.

She thought she saw something move from the corner of her eye and stiffened. Glancing over her shoulder in fear that her mother would return and reprimand her for doing the one thing she had been instructed not to, she sighed in relief when she saw two messy red heads peering into the room.

"I told you she would be here," Aberforth said.

Albus smiled and pinched Ariana's cheek as he came to stand beside her. He eyed the statue with great interest and said, "That is one magnificently crafted crystal phoenix."

"Phoenix?" she asked.

"It is only one of the most powerful and glorious of creatures," Aberforth explained. "Did you know phoenixes have the ability to regenerate? I read it in the book Father gave me."

Ariana wasn't sure what reejenarate meant, but she assumed it was a good thing. Resting her chin on her fingers, she sighed, watching as her breath clouded the glass again.

Suddenly, there was a spark from within the crystal, and a small flame danced to life. Ariana jerked backwards in surprise and would've fallen over if Albus hadn't caught her. The trio stared, transfixed, as the flame flickered and bobbed at the very core of the glass phoenix, as though it had a life of its own.

"What did you do?" Aberforth hissed, and the three turned to eye the door.

Ariana's heart began to race as she listened for footsteps. When she only heard the sound of her mother's muffled laughter from the next room, she relaxed.

"Mother is going to be furious," Aberforth was saying, but Albus simply rolled his eyes, reaching around Ariana to flick his brother's head.

"There is no possible way Ariana could have caused that to happen."

"Oh."

"Best we get out of here before Mother arrives, I reckon," Albus muttered as he picked Ariana off the stool and placed her on the carpeted floor. "She mightn't be too pleased to see us here."

As her brothers led her out of the room, she peered over her shoulder at the glass phoenix, feeling drawn to it.

-oOo-

Ariana looked up from her drawing when she heard the door open.

"You promised you wouldn't meet with that fellow again!" Aberforth said as soon as Albus stepped in.

"He's not 'that fellow'; his name is Gellert," Albus said before turning to Ariana. "My, what a beautiful painting. What is it?"

"Phoenix," she replied.

Before Albus could reply, Aberforth stormed over and said, "I don't like him, Albus! He gives off a bad vibe!"

"For heaven's sake," Albus said with a sigh. "You barely even know Gellert."

"Still," Aberforth said. "You could spend less time frolicking about with that fellow and help at home!"

Ariana noticed Aberforth's eyes flicker towards her but ignored it. She was used to their surreptitious glances in her direction every now and then.

"Stop calling him 'that fellow'!" Albus snapped before lowering his volume and glancing towards Ariana. "If you got to know him better, you would think otherwise."

Ariana tuned out the two as their argument continued. Her brothers' prolonged disagreement with regard to one Gellert Grindelwald was another thing she had gotten used to. If she had a reason to dislike him, it was because he made her brothers quarrel.

She ran her fingers along the painting. Looking over her shoulder, she stared at the empty spot on the mantelpiece where the glass phoenix used to be. Then, turning back to her picture, she proceeded to draw little cracks all over it, her brothers' verbal battle continuing in the background.

-oOo-

Ariana rushed into her brothers' room and yelled, "It's full!"

Both boys dropped whatever they were doing, and the trio raced into the living room, their excitement palpable.

As Albus helped Ariana onto her usual stool, Aberforth said, "The flame has reached bursting point! What will happen, I wonder?"

"Now, let's not get ahead of ourselves," Albus said, always the practical one. "We don't even know for certain if the phoenix will… regenerate."

"It will!" Aberforth said with a frown. "I heard Mother talking about it to Father last night!"

"Maybe so, but Mother hasn't seen it happen either, has she?"

Ariana ignored another one of her brothers' pointless rows as she placed her elbows on the mantelpiece and cupped her chin with her hands. She gently blew at the glass figure, smiling as the flame within, which had spread to fill the entire statuette, danced merrily.

As she watched, the flame stilled and slowly began to harden from the farthest points. Eyes widening, she waved a hand to alert her brothers. "It's happening!"

Both boys paused mid-fight to take their places beside her. They peered at the phoenix, watching as the flame disappeared, to be replaced by something grey, which promptly disintegrated and fell to the base.

"It turned to ash!" Aberforth exclaimed, reaching around Ariana to repeatedly hit Albus on the shoulder. "It turned to ash!"

"I can see," Albus said, smacking their brother's hand away.

They continued to stare at the crystal phoenix, and after a rather long moment of stillness, the ash slowly disappeared to materialise in the centre as a tiny flame.

Aberforth was beside himself with delight, but Albus only frowned at the phoenix, one hand to his chin. "How did it do that?"

Ariana shrugged. "Magic."

"Yes, but how?" Albus then turned to Aberforth and asked, "How do you think it did that?"

She eyed Aberforth, who seemed just as surprised as her at Albus asking for his opinion. He cleared his throat, looking pleased. "Perhaps the air trapped within the crystal allows for it to happen?"

Albus was silent, seemingly lost in thought. Then: "Do you think we could take it apart?"

"Absolutely not!" Aberforth said, alarmed. "Are you mad?"

"I can put it back together," Albus assured him. "I just need practice. I've been trying out some spells back in school, see."

Aberforth eyed the phoenix and then their brother. "Well, if you manage to succeed on something else..."

Albus grinned, his blue eyes glittering. "There should be a Muggle store nearby that sells little glass animals if I'm not mistaken?"

"Let's go!"

She watched her brothers race out the door before returning her attention to the phoenix. It seemed to somehow bring her brothers together despite them almost always quarrelling.

"What are you?" she whispered. The flame only flickered in answer.

-oOo-

Ariana peeked out from her room at the sound of the front door opening and shutting. Had Albus finally returned home?

"Had a nice stroll? Got lost on the way back, did we?"

She pressed her lips together at Aberforth's tone of voice; this was not going to end well. Why did he have to pick a fight with Albus every single time he came home—especially when it had become such a rarity of late?

"I'm tired," Albus said, and he indeed sounded exhausted. "Must we do this right now?"

"You're tired?" Aberforth snapped. "From what? Spending every minute of every day neglecting your family and cosying up to some no good rascal?"

"Aberforth…" Albus's voice was strained.

"What, Albus?" Aberforth yelled. "Say it!"

Albus rounded on Aberforth and said, "You understand nothing! About either Gellert or me! So do not dare push your twisted misconceptions onto me simply because you do not know how to deal with your pent up emotions!"

Aberforth shoved Albus away, and before Ariana knew what was happening, Aberforth's wand was brandished, inches from Albus's face.

"What are you going to do?" Albus spat. "Make me beg for mercy with your weak jinx?"

"Stop," Ariana whispered, clutching the doorframe. Tears blurred her vision and she debated if she should intervene. She didn't want to cause her brothers any more trouble than she already had, but she most definitely didn't want them to kill each other because of her.

Aberforth snarled, swiping his wand through the air, and Ariana jumped out from her hiding place, her arms spread open. "Stop it!" she yelled, and both teenagers froze.

"Ariana," Aberforth said in a broken voice, the panic clear on his face. He dropped his wand and held his hands up. "It's alright, love. We're not fighting anymore, see? So be a darling and go back inside, alright?"

"No!" She slammed her arms down against her sides, and her brothers flinched. They looked around wide-eyed, as though expecting something to happen, and for a moment, all was silent.

Then, Ariana screamed, and the windows shattered. The wood on the banisters splintered, flying towards Aberforth. He dove towards his wand, but it had rolled too far out of reach. Ariana started, unable to undo what she had done, and she screamed again, frustrated with her inability to control her magic.

In a moment, a cold hand was pressed against her mouth. She looked up to see Albus's other arm outstretched, wand in hand, and the broken wood hovered inches away from Aberforth. As soon as Aberforth managed to move away, Albus dropped his arm, and the jagged pieces clattered to the ground. He rushed to Aberforth's side, asking if he was alright, and Aberforth nodded, looking shaken.

Her brothers then turned to stare at her, and the fear in their blue eyes broke her heart. She spun on her heel and ran into her room, slamming the door behind her.

She was the reason her family was broken and the more she tried to fix it, the worse it got. Everything was her fault.

-oOo-

Ariana sat on her stool and watched as her brothers tinkered with the glass animals. Albus had tried multiple times to restore the little figurines to their original state but hadn't quite succeeded yet; there were cracks within the glass even if the exterior was perfect.

Their mother had left them to their own devices that day because she had some work in town. Ariana had a feeling it had something to do with the bad Muggle boys who had bullied her some time ago and why their father hadn't returned home yet. Nevertheless, it was the perfect opportunity for Aberforth to bring down the phoenix and examine it while Albus perfected his spell work.

When they had gone through all the glass animals, they decided to go out and purchase some more. Albus was convinced he was very close, and Aberforth was far too excited to disagree. They hurriedly put the phoenix back and told Ariana to be good.

"We won't be long," Aberforth called as they raced outside.

Ariana hopped onto the stool and watched the phoenix, blowing at it every now and then to make the flame flicker. One time, when nothing happened, she reached over and tapped on the glass. She blew on it again, but instead of the flame flickering, a small crack appeared across the surface. She gasped, alarmed, and noticed that more cracks were slowly appearing.

"Oh no," she wailed. "What am I going to do?"

Unable to find a solution, she ran to her room and dove under the covers, deciding that she would pretend to be asleep so her brothers wouldn't know what she had done. She ended up actually falling asleep, however, and woke up to the sound of her mother yelling. Not fully awake yet, she trudged into the living room, going rigid when she saw the scene before her.

The phoenix sat on the coffee table behind their mother; her brothers stood shamefaced with their heads hanging, and at their feet were the broken glass animals.

"How could you be so irresponsible?" their mother was yelling. "Leaving your sister all alone in the house to go spend money on useless trinkets!"

Her brothers mumbled apologies, and Ariana clutched her chest. This was all her fault! Her eyes fell on the phoenix, and her heart began to race. No, this wasn't her fault, it was all that bird's fault!

Inching towards it, she picked it off the table and held it above their head. "No!" Aberforth yelled, having caught sight of her, and their mother spun around, her eyes widening.

"Sweetheart, put the phoenix down," she said gently.

"No!" Ariana threw down the glass figurine, flinching when it shattered. One of the shards cut her leg, and her mother gasped, quickly clearing the glass away in order to tend to Ariana's wound.

"I'm sorry," Ariana sobbed, "It's all my fault!"

Her mother embraced her. "It's alright, darling. Don't cry."

"Don't worry," Albus added. "We can fix it, I'm sure!"

"No!" their mother snapped, placing a hand on her face with a sigh. "There is no point. I shall throw it out, and we shall have none of this nonsense again."

"But I can fix it!"

"Albus!" Her brother shrank back, and their mother's expression softened. "Sweetheart, even if you put it back together, it will never be as beautiful as it once was. Wouldn't you agree?"

"But…"

Her mother cast a sad look at the mound of shards and said softly, "What is broken is broken. No matter how much you try, you can never truly fix it."

-oOo-

Ariana watched as her brothers argued, again, but this time, the cause for their disagreement stood beside Albus, a look of contempt on his face. She couldn't make out what they were saying, so she inched forwards, taking her eyes off them for a few moments as she manoeuvred behind a rock.

In that time, the trio had pulled out their wands and were pointing them at each other. Ariana gasped as Gellert cast a spell at Aberforth, who fell to the ground, writhing in pain, which caused Albus to duel Gellert.

Aberforth struggled to his feet and joined in, and Ariana watched in horror as her brothers battled the blond boy. Finally, a spell hit Aberforth in the shoulder, disarming him. Gellert pointed his wand at her brother, and in that moment, Ariana knew what to do.

She would protect them. Her brothers, her only family, who had sacrificed so much for her sake—she would protect them this time around. Steeling herself, she stepped away from the rock. Aberforth caught sight of her and yelled for her to stay away, but she didn't listen. Albus and Gellert were still battling it out, and she decided that she would use the fact that neither was paying her any heed to her advantage.

Casting Aberforth one final glance, she stepped into the barrage of spells, turning away from Albus as she stretched her arms out. She would protect them. This time, she would—

There was a shrill shriek, and for a moment, time stilled. A blast of green shot towards her, and through it broke free a burst of red and gold. The phoenix cried, and Ariana fell, a small smile on her face.

Had she done it? Had she finally managed to fix what she had broken?

-oOo-

"What is it?" she asked for the millionth time as she watched her brother tinker with something at his desk.

He grunted, his back to her portrait, and she watched his bony shoulders move as he worked. She peered past her frame at the crumpled newspaper that had fallen beside the wastebasket, trying to read the smudged headline.

Ever since Aberforth had read the paper a few months ago, he had been in that state. He wouldn't speak with her or tell her what he was doing, but he would burn the midnight oil every night, hard at work on something.

He had lost so much weight, and his nearly white hair was falling out in clumps. She was worried about him. There was only one person who could drive Aberforth so far, and the longer she stared at the newspaper, the more she felt like she was right.

Had Albus died?

She turned when she heard the chair being scraped back. Aberforth walked up to her portrait and picked up a mirror shard from the dresser below it. He stared at it for a long moment, muttering under his breath.

"Who do you talk to?" she asked.

She wasn't expecting an answer, so she was rather surprised when Aberforth said, "A foolhardy boy who thinks he can save the world—much like your brother did."

She sighed. "He was your brother too." Aberforth glanced up at her and then at the newspaper before kicking it away. "Can't you please forgive him?" she asked, her voice soft. "At least now?"

Aberforth grunted and hobbled back to his desk. She clutched her chest, glad that she could feel no pain. After a moment, her brother returned and placed something before her portrait.

Her eyes widened at the sight of the rather large crystal figurine. "A…bird?" she asked.

"A phoenix," Aberforth muttered. "Your brother had one. Called it Fawkes." He paused, his eyes glassy. He then leant forwards and blew at it, and a tiny flame danced to life within. Then, without a word, he shuffled off to bed.

She squatted down, placed her elbows on her knees, and cupped her chin with her hands as she eyed the phoenix. It seemed like, once again, the mysterious glass animal had reunited her brothers.

"What are you?" she whispered. The flame only flickered in answer. Ariana smiled.

~*Fin*~