This was written for Miss. Caroline Potter's You have only 24 hours Challenge. Please read, review, and enjoy!
Ariana was never very happy with her life. All day she was left home alone while her brothers were at Hogwarts and her parents were away at work. But one day, everything is changed. The day when Arian showed her first signs of having magic. Now she longs for the days when she was left alone, before the time when she didn't trust herself to be around anyone.
Life is unfair. Things always come our way, just when we need a break. But life never gives breaks. It always throws something knew at us, wether it be death, hurt, loss, or betrayal.
Ariana was out in the yard, on a warm summer evening. There were flowers everywhere in the yard: daisies, lilies, roses, daffodils, violets, basically every flower one could think of. Ariana loved to spend her time out there. Sometimes her brothers would come out with her, to spend time with her while they were at home instead of away at school. But today they were over at a friends house playing Quidditch, so this day seemed no different than if it was in the middle of spring.
Ariana loved the summer. It was when life actually seemed alright. Being an eight year old and already thinking that, she knew it wasn't good, but she couldn't help it. She hated being left alone all day while her mother and father left for work. Then they would come home and act like everything was alright. She knew they both loved her dearly. They told her that every night, and her father said that if any of the muggle children ever gave her a hard time at school that he would personally get revenge for her. She loved the fact that her parents said they would be their for her, but she was not sure if she could really count on them. After all, they left long before she got up, and didn't return until 6 in the evening.
She was waiting outside for her father, who should be returning any moment now. She did this nearly everyday, unless she was fast asleep or surprising her parents with dinner. She sat criss cross in the grass, her yellow dress covering her legs. Her long blonde hair was tightly braided, done by herself. Her blue eyes were glistening, anticipating the return of her father.
She looked over at the flowers, a daisy in particular. The family's pet flobberworm always seemed to eat them, so it was a rare sight to see one still alive in the garden. Ariana reached over to it and picked it, holding it out in the palm of her hand. She closed her eyes and breathed in, and out. When she opened her eyes again, the flower was floating in the air, spinning around a few inches above her head.
Ariana was delighted! She was now 8 years of age and had not once shown any sign of possessing magical powers. She knew that both Albus and Aberforth had first done magic when they were 5 years old. Her parents had started to believe that she was a squib, and that she would never be able to attend Hogwarts. Her father said he didn't care wether she could use magic or not, but she knew that he secretly wished that she would show signs of magic.
She continued her steady breathing, but stood up and started dancing with the daisy. It was now spinning so fast that it was difficult to see the separate petals. It spun above her head, next to her and all over the yard. Ariana started to giggle with joy. She should have known that it was to good to be true.
"What are you doing?" a male voice asked. Ariana lost concentration, looking over at the source of the voice. There were three boys, all older than her, heading her way. "How was that flower flying? That isn't possible!" The flower slowly fell from the air, dropping into the garden.
"Yes it is," Ariana stated proudly. She picked the flower up again and made it float. "See?" She smirked at the boys, but they did not seem pleased.
"You think you're all cool because you can make a flower float?" one of the other boys laughed. "Well think again." he looked from one friend to another, nodded his head, and they all started charging at her. They tackled her to the ground, knocking the wind out of her. They threw punches at her face, making her nose and lip bleed. They were stronger than her, and there was nothing she could do to make them stop.
The flower slowly fell to the ground, going unnoticed by anyone.
"Help! Help! Mommy! Daddy!" she screamed, trying to shield her face from the attack. "Please stop!" she pleaded, but the boys ignored her, laughing as they continued to injure the little girl.
Suddenly there was a loud popping noise, startling the boys. Percival Dumbledore stood just a few feet away from the boys, his wand out. He looked furious. "Crucio!" he yelled, pointing his wand at the tallest boy. He fell over, yelling in pain. "Crucio!" Ariana's father yelled again, now directing it at another boy. Finally he yelled "Crucio!" once more and all three boys were curled up in a ball, crying their eyes out, and whimpering in pain. Percival ran over to his daughter, crouching down to wrap her in his arms. "Are you alright?" he asked. Ariana only cried. Percival pulled away from her and examined her injuries. "KENDRA!" he yelled much louder than Ariana would have even been able to. Kendra, Ariana's mother, came running out of the house.
"What is it?" she asked, not knowing why her husband seemed so alarmed. Then she saw her hurt child. She cried and ran over to her. She took out her wand, and began healing the wounds. But there were some wounds that would never be healed.
The three of them sat there for a long while, crying, and the parents hoping their daughter would be okay. Percival explained everything to his wife, hoping she would understand why he had done what he had done.
A few minutes later, Kendra stood up, and reached out to help her daughter up. But something was wrong. Ariana's eyes were closed, and she had fallen over on the ground, hitting her head. She began violently shaking, sher braid falling out. Kendra let out a shriek, reaching out to help her child, but her husband held her back.
"No! Don't touch her!" he yelled, looking at his beloved daughter helplessly. There was nothing he could do. He knew what was happening. He had read about it before and had seen it happen before to. To his sister, 36 years ago. His daughter was losing her magical abilities.
Ariana, after a few minutes, began to calm down, and eventually her eyes opened. She sat up, and looked at her parents. "Mommy! Daddy!" she cried, standing up, sounding delighted. "I got my magic today! I made a flower fly!" It was as if she had no recollection of the last half hour. "Look!" she ran over to a patch of flowers and picked one, holding it in the palm of her hand. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. When she opened them, the flower was shriveled up and dead. "That... that wasn't supposed to happen! It was supposed to fly! Let me try again." Kendra looked over at Percival with sad eyes. Their daughter picked another flower and tried again, but no matter what, the flower would not spin and dance in the air. She tried many more times, but each time the flower would either iend up like the first one, or nothing at all would happen. She began to get very angry, and started crying. The ground started shaking. "What's wrong with me?" she yelled. Falling down into the grass, she yellow dress stained from grass and blood. The ground slowly stopped shaking, but the Dumbledore's daughter was still crying.
"Ariana, honey, please calm down. Everything is going to be alright. Just calm down." her father pleaded, bending down to her height and smoothing her hair. "It will be alright." Suddenly, there was a loud shrieking sound, one that Percival usually made with his wand when he was arresting a witch or wizard. He turned around to find his best friend staring at him in disbelief.
"Percival?" he asked, slowly walking towards him, not knowing what to think. "Why?" he and a few other men came up to him and grabbed him at the arms.
"What are you doing to my husband?" Kendra asked, grabbing her daughter and picking her up, placing her on her hip.
"We have to take him to Azkaban. He killed three young muggle boys today."
"I was only saving my daughter!" Percival shouted, trying to break free from their grasp.
"Daddy!" Ariana cried, jumping from her mother's arms and running over to her father. "Daddy don't leave! You said you would always protect me!" she wrapped her arms around her father, and for a second, the assistant Aurors let go of him.
"You can't take me!" he yelled, "I was only protecting my daughter! I couldn't let her die!"
"I'm sorry Mr. Dumbledore, but the laws the law. You killed three muggles and the charge for that is a life in Azkaban." The Aurors prodded the two away from each other.
"Daddy!" Ariana yelled one last time, before the Aurors took hold of him once more and apparated away, taking her father from her life.
Ariana hated magic. It took her father away from her and her family. She hated that she still had magic in her. She wished the day when those three boys had attacked her that they had taken all the magic in her away. She hated how she would accidentally use magic when her emotions were out of control. She hurt people when that happened. Albus had been given a few black eyes throughout the last year alone, and Aberforth had broken his arm and all the toes in his body. And because of that, she know locked herself up in her room, refusing to come out or talk to anyone. She was afraid that she would hurt someone worse than she had ever done before, and she did not want to take that risk. Her life was messed up enough as it was, and she did not need it anymore complicated.
There was a knock on the door. "Ariana, you have to eat something, or else you will die of hunger!" Kendra opened the door, holding a tray of food.
"Go away mother!" Ariana shouted, refusing to look at her mother. She cared to much about her to risk hurting her. "I hope I do die! Then I won't hurt anyone anymore."
"Ariana please, don't do this to yourself. I love you to much so see you like this!"
"If I do anything other than stay in my room all day, I will kill someone! It could be you!" Ariana cried, looking out the window, trying to distract herself with the frogs that were out on the pond.
"I don't care. I would die for you Ariana. I love you. And I can't bear it one more minute if you keep doing this to yourself!"
Ariana turned around, scared for her mother. She lost control. Out of nowhere, her mother was flung backwards to the bookshelf in the room across from Ariana's. The books started falling, and Kendra was knocked unconscious.
"Mother!" Ariana screamed running out of her room and over to her mother. "Mother wake up, please wake up!" she cried. She knew this would happen someday. She dreaded it every time she woke up.
Her mother did not wake up.
Now, just three months after Ariana killed her mother, she not only hated magic, but she hated herself as well. She hated what she was. She hated what she could do. She hated what she had done. Her hands cramped up as she took deep breaths, promising herself she would make it through the day without hurting someone.
After her mother's death, Albus came home and stayed with her. He brought her food three times a day, but she never looked at him or said a single word. Most of the time, when he would come to see her, she would pretend to be asleep, or to absorbed in a muggle book to notice him come in.
She itched with longing to go back to the day before this mess of her life happened, back to when she was younger and all she had to worry about was keeping herself entertained while her parents were away.
Now it was summer time, which only made her more nervous. It meant that Aberforth would was back. Another person that she put at risk just by being alive. She wished her brothers would lock her up, or leave her in the middle of no where, so she would just die, and no longer be a harm to anyone. But they wouldn't do it. She knew they wouldn't. That's why she never even asked.
She was curled up in her bed, with her diary on her knees. She often spent her days writing in it, about how her life would have been had those boys not attacked her. She cried all the time, wishing that she were someone else, that she didn't half to live this way.
CRACK!
Ariana jumped at the sudden noise. She looked out the window and saw three boys fighting. With their wands. It was Albus, Aberforth and Gellert. Ariana ran from her room, down the stairs and out of her room. All three of the boys had their clothes stained with blood, and their faces did not look to good either. Ariana knew she was endangering all of their lives just by being their, but she had to put this fight to a stop. She couldn't bear to watch her brothers die.
She ran over to Aberforth, to try to talk him out of the fight, but that never happened. A spell hit her in the back, and she fell to the ground. Dead. The fight instantly stopped. Gellert disapparated and Albus and Aberforth were left in shock. "ARIANA!" they shouted falling down on their knees. They knew eventually something would happen to her, but they never expected it so soon...