AU - Ariana didn't die - Brothers, Dumbledore
"But you weren't there! Were you? You were off with him!" His voice broke as he screamed out the words.
"You weren't there for me. For her." His last sentence, in contrast, was a whisper.
"I was making the world a better place for us! I just needed to sort this out, just a few more months of patient waiting and I would've been back," Albus shouted back, his eyes alight with anger as his magic swirled within him.
Aberforth just shook his head. "We didn't need that, Albus. You went on and kept spouting this nonsense about the greater good, that you and Grindelwald were going to change the world."
Albus made a noise, intending to interrupt, but Aberforth kept talking.
"You kept saying that you were going to change the world, but I didn't need you to change the world—we didn't need you to change the world. All we wanted was for you to stay here, to stay with us."
Albus screeched, his magic flying out everywhere, sending everything in the small room flying. Glass from picture frames shattered into thousands of pieces around him, sparkling in the air. The chairs by the table were thrown to walls, splintering and cracking.
Aberforth remained, just as he always had, a solid statue in the middle of the storm.
He was the middle child; the second son of Percival and Kendra Dumbledore.
He had become the backbone of the family when Albus went gallivanting to god knows where, always going on and on about the greater good and saving them from the Muggles.
He had remained as the backbone of the family when his father had been sent to Azkaban for assaulting the Muggles that had destroyed his sister.
He had remained the backbone of the family when his mother had become so distraught and lifeless that she simply faded away with no strength to continue. And now, Aberforth continued to stand his ground.
He was Ariana's only family. He was the mother, the father, the brother.
He was the backbone, breastbone and all the other bones needed to form the skeleton that held up his family.
He was solid and he stood his ground.
He waited in silence as Albus continued to rage. He watched in silence as Albus now screamed at him, clawed at the walls, fired off spells in all manner of directions.
Aberforth stood his ground.
It took ten minutes for the storm to subside, and for Albus to stop yelling. All through it Aberforth said nothing; after all, there was no point trying to talk to an angry and, frankly, deluded person.
He waited until the air was calm and free from static electricity and the scent of ozone, until the walls stopped shaking and the air no longer sparkled from the smithereens of glass.
"You were always so focused on you, Albus. It was always about doing better in school, getting better grades, making friends with all the right people, becoming a prefect. We as your family—you just let fall to the wayside."
Albus opened his mouth to butt in, but Aberforth wasn't having it.
"No. You don't get to cry, to rant nor to scream. You have had your chance and now it is time to let the adult talk."
He inhaled deeply before sighing.
"You abandoned us, Albus. You wanted more, you wanted greatness. You met Grindelwald and all you ever spoke about after that was the greater good. What even is the greater good? Who's it greater for? Because it wasn't for any of us."
"Abe, it was for us, for our family. I was making it better—"
"Better for whom? Because all I see is a family torn apart while you were off doing your own thing."
"No, I—"
"No. Where were you when Ariana was attacked? When she was so viciously hurt that she hasn't spoken since? Where were you when I tried to stop Father from going and doing the unthinkable? Where were you when Father was then arrested? When he was tried? When he was hauled away by Aurors in front of everyone? Where were you when Mother stopped going to work? When we didn't have any food? When she just gave up? Where have you been all these previous months when I have been trying to keep ahold of this pitiful excuse of a family from breaking apart even more? Where. Were. You?"
Aberforth panted slightly from the exertion of his speech. He hadn't meant to get so worked up over everything, but he had been coping alone with everything for years whilst Albus was nowhere to be seen.
Albus opened and shut his mouth a few times as if he was going to speak, but the words wouldn't appear. Finally, no louder than a whisper, did Albus reply. "I was trying to protect us. To protect you from everything. If I could just make the world greater, then we would all be safe. Muggles wouldn't have to fear us and we could all be happy."
Aberforth choked out a laugh. "You're crazy. I don't need any protection from you, and if you think we're all going to be cosying up to Muggles, then you have another thing coming. You know what they did to Ari. How delusional are you?"
"But, the rumors—"
"You think I don't already know of the rumors? The ones calling me a goat-fucker behind my back? Well, sorry to break it to you, Albus, but I have bigger things to be worrying about than a few people bad mouthing me."
"But—"
"No, Albus. No more buts. I let you speak and I let you explain. All you care about is Muggles, Grindelwald and your greater good. We, Ari and I, were supposed to be your greater good."
Aberforth was done. He was done with Albus' need to be the greatest, to be the true saviour of people that weren't interested.
"I once called you my family, my brother. You were the one I turned to once upon a time; you were my rock in life. But you moved. You left not for us, but for a pipedream and delusions. You are not my family; you are not a Dumbledore; you are not my brother. You are nothing but a stranger to me. I really hope that you get what you want in life, Albus."
Aberforth was the rock that held Ariana and him in place, steady. He would not crumble against the storm even if it meant casting his brother aside.
THC/The Houses Competition.
Round 4 - Standard
House - Ravenclaw
Class - Potions
Prompt(s) chosen -
[Pairing type] Brothers
Dumbledore's Era
1098 words (wordcounter .net)