Chapter 25: Results
Aberforth sat outside under the tree in the front lawn, watching as Albus went off yet again with Grindelwald. This had been going on for days and, frankly, Aberforth was tired of it.
In Aberforth's opinion, his brother didn't seem to be grieving at all. All he did was talk about dumb Grindelwald and his brilliant theories on magic that they talked about for hours upon hours while Aberforth was stuck at home watching Ariana.
Thankfully, Ariana was finally upstairs sleeping after a bad night of fits and magical outbursts. He suspected she was reliving their mother's death during the night. Last night had been particularly bad. Albus had stood at the door, watching on, giving extremely unhelpful advice.
"You should get her water. No, don't do that! She'll choke. This kind of magic is volatile. You shouldn't get so close."
Aberforth glared at him and finally, after an hour of his interjections, he yelled, "Go put a damn silencing charm on our room and go to sleep! I can handle this!"
"She's my sister, too-"
"I don't care! Go away!"
Albus turned on his heel with a huff. After a few hours, Aberforth finally got her to sleep and felt relieved. Even though he was just as tired, he went down to do his daily milking of the goats and then went out on the front lawn to sketch creatures out of one of Albus's textbooks.
And about an hour into it was when Grindelwald showed up, leaning over the picket fence to try to see what Aberforth was drawing.
"Nice details," he said, smirking. "You messed up the eyes, though. They're a teensy bit bigger than that."
Aberforth shot him a glare and nearly stabbed his quill into Grindelwald's eye. See how he'd like having an eye slightly bigger…
Albus coming out of house stopped his impulse, though. He had his arms filled with books and said, "Gellert, I've found that book I was talking to you about yesterday. I will see you this afternoon, Abe."
Grindelwald reached over and ruffled Aberforth's hair, much to his dismay. He only laughed when Aberforth sent him a rude gesture with his hand.
"What?" asked Albus, the gate falling closed.
"Nothing," Gellert said. "Bye, little Abe."
Aberforth huffed again. 'You're not much older than me,' he thought. 'And I'm taller, so there.'
Aberforth glared at them until they disappeared into Bathilda's house next door. Then, he looked back down at his drawing. The eyes on his chimera were fine.
He loathed Grindelwald. Why did Albus have to be friends with him so suddenly? He was even more arrogant than Albus. At least Albus had some sense. He was at least polite. Grindelwald, with his smirk and his superior attitude more suffocating than Albus's, was just infuriating. He hated how he came waltzing into the Dumbledore house like he belonged there. Aberforth always had to rush Ariana away, hoping she wouldn't be seen because he knew one sight of her by him and the whole village would know about her.
Aberforth almost wished Potter had come back. At least he was interesting. He was a time-traveler! He had something special about him. Albus and Grindelwald, on the other hand…
Aberforth sighed, then, he brought his wand out and tapped the page with a spell he invented that made the page read out to him in his head. He listened to the information on Chimera's eating patterns as he drew and tried not to think about how livid his brother and boyfriend made him become.
Something pecked at him minutes later. He blinked, saying "Finite" and tapping his wand against the page again. The barn owl, which he recognized as one from Hogwarts named Hopp, held out his leg for him to untie the letter attached to it.
Aberforth frowned, wondering why he was getting a letter. Normally it was Albus who received the mall.
But, sure enough, the first letter held his name. That he could read well enough. The second one held Albus's name.
Then, Aberforth's heart started pounding. There were his O.W.L results and Albus's N.E.W.T's!
Oh, they were going to be bad! What would mother-
He blinked, realizing what he'd just thought. "Huh," he muttered to himself. "I just have to worry about Albus. Odd." He felt his eyes tear up slightly at the thought, but she shook that off, breaking the seal of his envelope and then tapping the letter.
"Ordinary Wizarding Level Results. Aberforth W.H.A Dumbledore has achieved: Art: O, Astronomy: A, Care of Magical Creatures: O, Charms: O, Defense Against the Dark Arts: E, Herbology: O, History of Magic: P, Potions: E, Transfiguration: A."
He stared, wondering if Hogwarts somehow had gotten his results mixed up with his brother's. There was no possibility that he had received so many O's! He'd gotten 7 O.W.L's. He thought he wouldn't even scrape two!
But when he thought back to the oral exam he'd received in one of the back room's just off the Great Hall, he did think his answers had been good. He explained everything as well as he could and there hadn't really been a question he wasn't sure about when he told the proctor what he knew.
He sat there for a long time, staring down at the letters. So many O's! He never thought he'd see that before in his life, or really understand what it meant.
For once, he was happy. This was wonderful! Oh, if his mother could be there!
"Thanks, Hopp," he said to the little owl. He scratched his head and the owl affectionate nibbled his finger for a moment. "You want to take Albus his, or shall I give it to him?"
Hopp bumped his head against Aberforth's hand, then spread his wings and took off. Aberforth guessed that meant that Aberforth had to give Albus his results.
Aberforth smiled widely down at his letter again, then tucked it carefully into his sketchbook. How absolutely wonderful.
When the bell from the chapel rang twelve times, Aberforth stood to go back inside to wake Ariana for lunch.
"Guess what, Ariana," he said as he made her lunch.
"Hm?" she said, looking up from where she was scribbling on an old Daily Prophet.
"I got good grades on my testing," he said, sitting down next to her.
"You're happy," she said, smiling serenely. "I like happy."
"I know you do," he said, standing up again because he noticed her hair was out of place. He braided it for her as she ate. "I think Albus will be happy when he hears. Or think I've cheated somehow. He's got top grades, of course."
"He's smart," Ariana said.
"Yes." Aberforth frowned, trying the ribbon at the very end of her hair.
"You are, too."
He shook his head as he sat down beside her again. "I think you're the only one that believes in me. I love you." Aberforth doubted she would understand exactly what he meant. He wondered if she even understood when he mentioned testing, even though she said Albus was smart.
She smiled again and scribbled on the newspaper again. "I love you, too."
"What do you think I should do?" Aberforth said, running a hand through his hair. It was getting long, but it still wasn't as long as Albus's. "Should I stay here with you instead of going to school?"
"Stay! Please. Stay!" she said, reaching over to grab his arm. She hugged it tightly, her thin hands clinging desperately to him. "I love you. Don't go."
He smiled sadly. "I don't think Albus would allow it. He wants me to finish. But I want to stay here with you."
"Stay," she said again, holding onto him tighter. "Please. Please. Please."
She kept repeating Please as Aberforth pried her hands from his arm, which was beginning to go numb.
The door opened. Aberforth tried to jerk his arm from Ariana, but she wouldn't let go. He looked up, through the door of the kitchen, and saw Albus there. He seemed to be telling Grindelwald to stay there.
"Hi, Abe," Albus said.
Aberforth relaxed, though he moved Ariana out of sight of the door as Albus grabbed an apple from near the sink.
"What's she talking about?" he asked, surveying them. Ariana still wouldn't let go of Aberforth, and still said, "Please," over and over again.
"Nothing," he said. He picked up the envelope that had Albus's name on it and handed it over to him. "N.E.W.T results."
His eyes widened and he set his apple on the table. He tore the seal off immediately, and his hands seemed to shake as his eyes scanned over the letter.
"All Outstandings!" he said, smiling widely. "Wait until I tell Gellert!"
Aberforth rolled his eyes, finally pulling his arm out of Ariana's grasp. Albus looked down at Aberforth and held out his hand. Why was everyone trying to attack him with their arms?
"May I see your O.W.L results?"
Aberforth glared up at him for a moment. Should he?
"Now," Albus demanded.
Aberforth slowly opened his journal, grabbed the parchment, and handed it to him.
Albus looked down at him as he unfolded it, then read through it.
But as he did, his bright eyes widened, but did not twinkle.
"This is…" he said, shocked all over his face. Aberforth smirked.
"I'll let you think of a good word for that as I put Ariana back in her room for a while," Aberforth said. "She's only had about four of sleep so far."
He nodded dumbly. When Aberforth got back downstairs, he noticed Grindelwald slouched in the chair, one arm hanging over the back. He looked up at Aberforth with a smirk.
"Well, here's the genius himself," Grindelwald said. "Who knew it ran in the family?"
Aberforth glared at him as he snatched his journal from the table.
"You did wonderful, brother," Albus said. "I wish Mother could see."
Aberforth ignored him. "Where's the parchment?" he asked, looking around for it. Albus handed it to him and then, Albus stalked back upstairs to watch Ariana, just in case she had an outburst while Grindelwald was there.
Why did Grindelwald have to be there? Why couldn't he have a quiet summer to grieve his mother and not have to worry about anything getting in the way?
At least he managed good grades. Albus didn't hate him or give him a lecture on how he had to make better grades for the greater good of the Wizarding World. As if one person would make that much difference if they got a Troll on all of their subjects.
He sighed and looked up at Ariana sleeping, wishing she didn't have to hide. Wishing that he could talk to her properly.
Albus looked down at his pocket watch, thinking that it would be early in the afternoon, but instead was shocked to find it was nearly dinner. He looked up toward the window, noticing that the sun was indeed in the west.
"Where did the time go?" Albus asked, starting to gather the pieces of parchment they'd been writing ideas and plans on. Albus, who had been working on an article for Transfiguration Today, was happy to have Gellert's input on matters relating to human transfiguration, but it was going to be late soon and Aberforth and Ariana would come down any minute.
"Meet again tomorrow morning?" Gellert asked. "I'd love to talk more about what we were talking about yesterday, with the Deathly Hallows how much of an affect they'd have on the Wizarding World if someone with a position of power had them. That was fascinating."
"I found that an excellent conversation, as well. Yes, I think we should."
Albus smiled and watched reluctantly as Grindelwald left the Dumbledore house. When the front door closed, he called out to Aberforth, "You can come down with Ariana now!"
He cleaned up the rest of the papers and stuffed them into a book while he listened for their footsteps.
"Finally," Aberforth said, stretching as he came down the stairs. "Will you leave the house so Ariana can walk around?"
Albus sighed, pulling down plates from the cabinet and placing them on the table. "I was thinking-"
"Oh, for Merlin's sake, you never stop thinking."
"I was thinking," Albus interjected again. "That we should let Gellert meet her. He's Mrs. Bagshot's nephew. I think he'd be fine to tell."
"What! No!" Aberforth yelled.
"Why not?" Albus said, sitting down at the table across from Aberforth. "I remember you saying, what was it, last summer before I went on my apprenticeship? You wished Mother would tell people we have a sister. Why are you changing you mind now?"
"I don't trust him!"
Albus stared. He didn't 'trust' him? He never trusted anyone. "You didn't trust Harry."
Aberforth raised his eyebrows. "He's from the future, Albus. The future. He knows all sorts. He probably knows what happened to us. He probably knows when we died. He probably knew our mother died, Albus. Why do you think I don't trust him?"
Albus sighed. "He knows about Ariana."
"Because you told him?"
"My counterpart, most likely."
Aberforth groaned. "See? I don't trust him. We don't know where he found out that information. And how do we even know for sure he's from the future?"
"He is," Albus said. He was positive. How else would Harry have gotten an old man with a white beard, whom looked uncannily like Albus, in his mind? Merrythought and Flamel trusted him, as well. If they, who had good instincts, could trust him, then Albus could trust him. "He's not lying."
"He's weird, Albus," Aberforth said. "And Grindelwald is foul. I don't like the way he treats me. At least Potter was kind. He talked to me like he knew me. Grindelwald thinks I'm three!"
"He does not-"
Aberforth glared him just enough to make Albus sigh and stand up. "Look, Aberforth, Grindelwald is good company. He's intelligent and-"
"Oh, finally, you admit that someone's intelligent! Because no one else in the world is, according to your enormous, ignorant brain!"
"Shut. Up!" Albus yelled furiously, tired of Aberforth's interruption. Aberforth just crossed his arms, sneering and glaring at him.
But Ariana, who had been sitting there quietly, looking back at forth between them, suddenly screamed. Aberforth jumped, looking at their sister, then he reached over and rubbed her back. "Shh, Ariana, shh," he said softly as she continued to scream. "It's all right, Ariana. Please. You're fine, you're fine. Shh. Ignore him. He's mad at me, not you."
Albus looked on, unsure of what to do. He covered his ears, feeling ashamed for loosing his temper. He looked toward the floor, waiting for her to calm down. When she did, she sobbed quietly into Aberforth's shoulder.
"Thanks a lot," Aberforth said to Albus.
"I'm sorry-" he began, but Aberforth's glare quieted him.
He frowned, feeling tears burning in the corner of his eyes.
Then, he walked out of the room, paced the living area for a moment, before living the house completely. He'd been so stupid. Why did he have to yell? He never yelled!
He thought about going to Gellert, but second guessed that. Gellert would ask why Albus was acting this way and he couldn't deal with that.
So, like every other day that past week, he went into the woods lining the road outside his house and went along to the meadow.
Maybe Harry would be there. He hoped he would.
But then again, Harry hadn't been there the whole week. He'd waited there for an hour or so by himself, waiting for Harry to apparate there. Each evening, he left sadly, wondering where he'd gone.
Honestly, it made Albus think he'd done something wrong. Maybe he'd pried too much. Maybe Harry didn't want to see him again.
He thought that way every time he sat down in the meadow, and each day that went by, he was sure he was right.
He felt lonely. He was used to being surrounded by people. If he were on his world tour trip, he would have been able to see lots of people and see other cultures. But here, he was just stuck. He had a great new friend in Gellert, but part of him also wanted Elphias and Harry.
In a way, he felt abandoned. Elphias was off having fun, touring all sorts of places. Harry was no where to be found.
And even though Harry said he shouldn't feel like he was stuck, he still was.
It made him want to see Gellert more because at least then he was someone for company.
Albus sighed and stared up at the pink colored sky. He liked it when the sky turned that color. It made everything around him seem golden, even if he didn't feel so golden at the moment.
He called out to Fawkes. When his bird flew to him, he ran a hand over his head. He began singing and instantly, Albus felt better.
How did everything seem to change so fast?
Harry ran. He could feel his invisibility cloak streaming behind him and the stack of books he was carrying wobbled as he ascended the stairs. His heart beat rapidly, but he had to get to the seventh floor.
He had to get these books hidden. He had to rush.
But just two floors away from the library, he heard footsteps.
He groaned and hid behind a suit of armor, listening carefully and looking down to make sure his feet were covered.
He was sure it would just be one of the teachers wandering around, but when he heard the voice of Phineas Nigellus, his heart jumped to an even faster rate. Was the meeting Merrythought went to already over? Now he was in major trouble once she found out he had gone.
"-The Dumbledore's," said Phineas.
Harry held his breath as the footsteps came closer. Who was he talking to?
"I was planning on checking in on them in a couple days," said a man. As they stepped passed Harry, he realized it was Cadmus Potter. He stared, wide eyed, hoping they wouldn't hear his breathing. "I've seen Albus around with Bathilda Bagshot's nephew. Haven't really seen Aberforth."
"I remember when my mother died," said Phineas. "Awful thing. What caused her death? Was she ill?"
"Yes, she was ill," Cadmus said. Harry knew he was lying.
"Hm," Phineas said. There was a slight pause and they stopped walking when they got to the staircase. They seemed to watch the moving stairs. "I checked both Dumbledores' exam results."
Cadmus chuckled slightly. "Yes? Let me guess, Albus has all Outstandings and Aberforth has two O.W.L.s."
"You're right about the eldest brother."
"Oh? And Aberforth?"
"Seven total."
Harry's eyes widened, not sure how to react to that information.
"Merlin! Really? Who knew someone whom throws goat dung at women would receive seven O.W.L's!"
"Goat dung?"
"That was an awful day," Cadmus said, shaking his head. "I was doing paperwork for days because of that."
Harry's arms were beginning to hurt from holding onto the few books he'd found in the library mentioning Horcruxes. He knew he hadn't found all of them, but the less material Tom Riddle had in the future, the better.
"Any word on this Potter fellow that helped Merrythought last year?" Phineas asked. Harry head snapped up, listening more closely than before.
"No, none at all," Cadmus said. "It seems he doesn't even exist. I'm guessing whoever he was, he's long gone by now. There haven't been any sightings of anyone who matches his description since he left here. Personally, I think he made up the last name, probably saw my name in the paper at some point and adopted it. As long as he didn't hurt anyone while he was here, I think there's not much we can go on."
Phineas huffed slightly. "There was something odd going on. I don't like it and he shouldn't get away with whatever he was doing! I know Dumbledore and Merrythought were covering for him. I just know it."
"That's not enough to go on, Headmaster. I'm sorry."
"Well," Phineas huffed again. "What about your son? You said he knew him."
"He thought he was kind. Atticus said most of the students liked him, said he was a quiet and modest fellow who mostly observed the classes and helped out when he could. He doesn't seem like any sort of threat to me."
Harry looked down the hall, wondering if he could sneak away.
"Well," Phineas said. "He's still-"
Harry had tried moving carefully down the hall, but his shoe squeaked against the stone floor.
"Who's there?" Phineas called out loudly. "Peeves! Is that you? Do I need to call the Bloody Baron?"
Harry stopped dead. Why did these books have to weigh so much? He swore they had to be over a hundred pounds all together, even if that hadn't felt so heavy when he first stacked them.
"Revelio," Cadmus said, waving his wand.
Nothing happened. Harry sighed in relief.
"Hm," Cadmus muttered.
They stood there for another moment, surveying the hallway behind them, and then stepped forward. "Oh, hello, Merrythought!" Phineas said as they started up the stairs.
Harry closed his eyes tightly. How did that suddenly get so much worse?
But, thankfully, Harry only saw a small glimpse of her catching up with Cadmus and Phineas and they were all walking up the stairs, away from Harry.
Harry let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, then he began running again, his arms sore. Finally, he reached the seventh floor. Slowly, he walked along the familiar wall three times, saying in his mind, "I need a place to hide these books where Tom Riddle and Voldemort will never find them. I need a place to hide these books where Tom Riddle and Voldemort will never find them."
When the door appeared, he stepped into the little room with only a table. He placed them down with much relief and then he covered himself with the cloak again.
He ran full out, back down to Merrythought's office.
He was preparing himself for her yelling. He knew she would be incredibly angry.
He peeked into the office, expecting the yelling to come immediately, but i was completely silent. Again, in relief, he entered and began sorting through the books again.
Half an hour later when Merrythought came back, she mentioned nothing. She only handed Harry several sheets of parchment and told him write.
He stared down at the parchment as she sorted through student papers stacked up on her desk. He tried very hard to think of what to write, but throughout the whole afternoon, he'd only written "July 9, 1898," and "Dear Professor Dumbledore," at the top of the page.
"I thought you wanted to say some things to him," Merrythought said, looking over his shoulder.
Harry sighed, shrugging. "I just…"
She smiled softly. "Odd to see him being referred to as 'Professor Dumbledore,'" she said. "I'm so used to 'Mr. Dumbledore.'"
"'Mr. Dumbledore' sounds mad to me," Harry said, laughing.
She grinned and shook her head. "Well. Think it through tonight."
They had a quiet dinner together, talking over some of Harry's travels he'd gone on that year.
Over the next few days, Harry alternated between helping Merrythought organize her office and writing drafts of a letter to Dumbledore. On the day that they finally finished cleaning the office without magic, Harry had a letter.
"Are you ready?" she asked, taking Harry's folded letter.
Harry nodded and she put the spell on it that sealed the letter shut until June 29, 1997.
"It's hard to believe he'll be around for another 99 years," she said softly. "Somehow that seems like a very long time from now, but no time at all."
Harry couldn't help but feel homesickness. He wanted back. He wanted to see his friends.
An hour later, Harry left Hogwarts. Merrythought had hugged him tightly. "I have a feeling this will be the last we'll see each other," she said. "Good luck."
"Thank you," Harry said, barely returning the hug. "Thank you for helping me this year."
She smiled again. "Thank you for helping me. It was lovely to meet you and I hope to see you again in the future."
Harry grabbed a handful of Floo Powder.
"Oh, and Harry, whatever you did to my books and the library books, it better be with good reason-"
But Harry was already gone before he could reply.
A/N: Ha. Okay, explanation on Aberforth's grades before people get on me: Seriously. I think Aberforth is smarter than most people think he is. I mean, he's a Dumbledore and I thought in the canon books that he was pretty smart. He sounded smart to me. I believe the only problems with Aberforth is that he's strong headed, doesn't study as hard as Albus, and is a bit more eccentric then him, too… I mean… uh, inappropriate spells on a goat? There's something wrong with that kid. But he is eccentric smart. So, that's my explanation why he got such high grades. I think Ariana would have excelled in school if she'd gotten the chance, too.
Also, someone asked me about the timelines… if Harry actually changes things or if all this was meant to happen. Some mild things have changed but only because of mistakes I've made with misremembering canon. But, honestly, things are meant to have happened all along. I'll just say that now.
Anyway, other than that, I want to thank you all for the reviews :D and to also thank you for sticking with this story. I know I'm really slow at updating, so thanks for being patient with me.