p class="MsoNormal"*General disclaimer, characters are not my own./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"*^*/p
p class="MsoNormal"A sharp knock sounded through the small, dull cabin. An elderly witch waddled cautiously to the door. It had been quite some time since she had received any visitors. Her family had long since moved away and forgotten her, friends never quite stayed in touch as the years went on. The neighbourhood no longer saw her as a friendly face to be kind to and make pleasant conversation with. Now she was regarded poorly, as a crazy woman who had lost her /The sleepy hollow had changed drastically over the years, and poor Bathilda had been left behind./p
p class="MsoNormal"Another loud rap on the door broke the woman from her thoughts as she pulled open the door, sunlight blinded her for a moment as her eyes adjusted. A woman Bathilda had never seen before stood before her, a toll woman with elaborate curls and a strong jaw. She wasted no time pushing herself into Bathildas home, a sneer sneaking onto her face as she took in her surroundings./p
p class="MsoNormal""Bathila, I knew you wouldn't mind be stopping by, I'm Rita Skeeter" the woman began, continuing to survey the room. Bathilda busied herself clearing clutter from lounge chairs. br /Who was this woman? She seemed rather familiar, had she simply forgotten?br /"I was hoping we could talk about Godrics Hollow, and the fanciful people who have lived here over the years" Rita spoke loudly, in a commanding tone as id daring Bathilda to say /But how could she? It had been so long since she had had someone to talk to, and the Hollow was such a fascinating place, there was really no one better to ask than Bathilda herself, after all she had lived there all her life./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bathilda nodded her head in consent. Rita rapidly took out a quill and /"I can't trouble you for some tea?" she asked before hesitantly moving closer into the room, and inspecting some old photographs. br /Bathilda waddled her way into the kitchen, and returned shortly after with two steaming mugs of /"Who is in this photograph?" Rita inquired, indicating a family; mother, father, two young boys and a small infant wrapped snuggly in a blanket./p
p class="MsoNormal""The Dumbledore family" Bathilda spoke softly,br /"They lived here years ago, a terrible shame what happened, I'm sure you know Albus, he is the headmaster of Hogwarts" she said, pointing a wrinkled finger at one of the young boys./p
p class="MsoNormal""Can you tell me about them?" Rita inquired, "What happened? What is their story?" br /Bathilda barely noticed Rita fingering the quill, her long nails tapping impatiently./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""It was all a long time ago. The poor dears were torn apart. I never met Percival" Bathilda said, indicating the man in the /"I hear he was sent to Azkaban for attacking muggles" she /"Poor Kendra moved here all on her own and kept to herself mostly. Though for the longest time I only knew of the two boys."br /Bathilda moved her attention to the small bundle of /"Ariana was rarely seen, I wouldn't have known she existed but one night I was up late and saw Kendra taking her outside. The poor girl wasn't very well, a squib perhaps too."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bathilda took a sip of tea, and Rita pulled her own cup closer to her./p
p class="MsoNormal""What happened to Ariana?" Rita pushed on, a slight smile played on her lips as she watched Bathilda swallow a mouthful of tea./p
p class="MsoNormal""The girl died, she was young, 13 perhaps? Maybe a little older, around the time Gellert and Albus met. Those two had such grand ideas, both so bright. It was a shame when Gellert left, Albus was still grieving his sister, then he lost his closest friend /Then again, the things that boy wound up doing, maybe it was for the best Albus didn't join him." Bathilda prattled on, shaking her head. She felt comfortable with Rita, as if she could tell her anything and even better, Rita was listening to her. br /Bathilda hardly had anyone to speak to since the tragedy at the Potters house./p
p class="MsoNormal""This here is Aberforth, a few years younger than Albus. They had a falling out after Arianas passing and never reconnected" Bathilda said, jabbing the same wrinkled finger at the last boy in the photo./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""How interesting" Rita said "It sure seems like Albus lived an interesting life.." br /"Oh he did" Bathilda exclaimed, a glimmer of excitement entered her /"Did you know, he knew the Potters too? I'm glad that boy had someone looking after him after such a tragedy. br /And he was so very clever! There is no chance he stole those papers from Dillonsby"./p
p class="MsoNormal""Dillonsby? I'm not sure I've heard of him" Rita /br /"Well of course not. He never made anything of himself, but he claims he discovered the first eight uses of dragons blood". Bathilda babbled onbr /"But I'm sure that was something both Albus and Gellert worked on together".br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /!- [if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /!-[endif]-/p
p class="MsoNormal""You've mentioned Gellert a few times, who is he?" Rita pressed on./p
p class="MsoNormal""Gellert Grindelwald, you must have heard about him. He was a very close friend of Albus', they spent almost all their time together, locked behind doors. You could hear their laughter from miles around" Bathilda said, turning her back and picking up another photo of Albus and Gellert. Not noticing Rita stuffing the Dumbledores family photograph into her robe pocket./p
p class="MsoNormal""Here they are" Bathilda said, passing an image to Rita, of two smiling boys their arms wrapped around each others shoulders./p
p class="MsoNormal""Gellert Grindelwald? The moat dangerous and dark wizard of all time before 'You-Know-Who'?" Rita asked, raising an elegant eyebrow and peering at the image from behind her wide brimmed /"It couldn't be. Friends with Albus?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh, you would be surprised at the company dear Albus kept. I often wonder if his poor choices were due to the dysfunction of his family, losing both his parents at such precarious times of his life. Or, maybe it was Albus' influence that had kept Gellert in check all that time, the love between those boys was palpable" Bathilda pondered./p
p class="MsoNormal"A gleam flashed across Ritas eyes, missed by her host. She had certainly unearthed a scoop, one that few others would take the time to investigate. Now was her shot, she thought as she made a hasty escape, to plot her story of the life of Albus Dumbledore. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"*^*/p
p class="MsoNormal"A sharp knock sounded through the small, dull cabin. An elderly witch waddled cautiously to the door. It had been quite some time since she had received any visitors. Her family had long since moved away and forgotten her, friends never quite stayed in touch as the years went on. The neighbourhood no longer saw her as a friendly face to be kind to and make pleasant conversation with. Now she was regarded poorly, as a crazy woman who had lost her /The sleepy hollow had changed drastically over the years, and poor Bathilda had been left behind./p
p class="MsoNormal"Another loud rap on the door broke the woman from her thoughts as she pulled open the door, sunlight blinded her for a moment as her eyes adjusted. A woman Bathilda had never seen before stood before her, a toll woman with elaborate curls and a strong jaw. She wasted no time pushing herself into Bathildas home, a sneer sneaking onto her face as she took in her surroundings./p
p class="MsoNormal""Bathila, I knew you wouldn't mind be stopping by, I'm Rita Skeeter" the woman began, continuing to survey the room. Bathilda busied herself clearing clutter from lounge chairs. br /Who was this woman? She seemed rather familiar, had she simply forgotten?br /"I was hoping we could talk about Godrics Hollow, and the fanciful people who have lived here over the years" Rita spoke loudly, in a commanding tone as id daring Bathilda to say /But how could she? It had been so long since she had had someone to talk to, and the Hollow was such a fascinating place, there was really no one better to ask than Bathilda herself, after all she had lived there all her life./p
p class="MsoNormal"Bathilda nodded her head in consent. Rita rapidly took out a quill and /"I can't trouble you for some tea?" she asked before hesitantly moving closer into the room, and inspecting some old photographs. br /Bathilda waddled her way into the kitchen, and returned shortly after with two steaming mugs of /"Who is in this photograph?" Rita inquired, indicating a family; mother, father, two young boys and a small infant wrapped snuggly in a blanket./p
p class="MsoNormal""The Dumbledore family" Bathilda spoke softly,br /"They lived here years ago, a terrible shame what happened, I'm sure you know Albus, he is the headmaster of Hogwarts" she said, pointing a wrinkled finger at one of the young boys./p
p class="MsoNormal""Can you tell me about them?" Rita inquired, "What happened? What is their story?" br /Bathilda barely noticed Rita fingering the quill, her long nails tapping impatiently./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""It was all a long time ago. The poor dears were torn apart. I never met Percival" Bathilda said, indicating the man in the /"I hear he was sent to Azkaban for attacking muggles" she /"Poor Kendra moved here all on her own and kept to herself mostly. Though for the longest time I only knew of the two boys."br /Bathilda moved her attention to the small bundle of /"Ariana was rarely seen, I wouldn't have known she existed but one night I was up late and saw Kendra taking her outside. The poor girl wasn't very well, a squib perhaps too."/p
p class="MsoNormal"Bathilda took a sip of tea, and Rita pulled her own cup closer to her./p
p class="MsoNormal""What happened to Ariana?" Rita pushed on, a slight smile played on her lips as she watched Bathilda swallow a mouthful of tea./p
p class="MsoNormal""The girl died, she was young, 13 perhaps? Maybe a little older, around the time Gellert and Albus met. Those two had such grand ideas, both so bright. It was a shame when Gellert left, Albus was still grieving his sister, then he lost his closest friend /Then again, the things that boy wound up doing, maybe it was for the best Albus didn't join him." Bathilda prattled on, shaking her head. She felt comfortable with Rita, as if she could tell her anything and even better, Rita was listening to her. br /Bathilda hardly had anyone to speak to since the tragedy at the Potters house./p
p class="MsoNormal""This here is Aberforth, a few years younger than Albus. They had a falling out after Arianas passing and never reconnected" Bathilda said, jabbing the same wrinkled finger at the last boy in the photo./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""How interesting" Rita said "It sure seems like Albus lived an interesting life.." br /"Oh he did" Bathilda exclaimed, a glimmer of excitement entered her /"Did you know, he knew the Potters too? I'm glad that boy had someone looking after him after such a tragedy. br /And he was so very clever! There is no chance he stole those papers from Dillonsby"./p
p class="MsoNormal""Dillonsby? I'm not sure I've heard of him" Rita /br /"Well of course not. He never made anything of himself, but he claims he discovered the first eight uses of dragons blood". Bathilda babbled onbr /"But I'm sure that was something both Albus and Gellert worked on together".br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /!- [if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /!-[endif]-/p
p class="MsoNormal""You've mentioned Gellert a few times, who is he?" Rita pressed on./p
p class="MsoNormal""Gellert Grindelwald, you must have heard about him. He was a very close friend of Albus', they spent almost all their time together, locked behind doors. You could hear their laughter from miles around" Bathilda said, turning her back and picking up another photo of Albus and Gellert. Not noticing Rita stuffing the Dumbledores family photograph into her robe pocket./p
p class="MsoNormal""Here they are" Bathilda said, passing an image to Rita, of two smiling boys their arms wrapped around each others shoulders./p
p class="MsoNormal""Gellert Grindelwald? The moat dangerous and dark wizard of all time before 'You-Know-Who'?" Rita asked, raising an elegant eyebrow and peering at the image from behind her wide brimmed /"It couldn't be. Friends with Albus?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal""Oh, you would be surprised at the company dear Albus kept. I often wonder if his poor choices were due to the dysfunction of his family, losing both his parents at such precarious times of his life. Or, maybe it was Albus' influence that had kept Gellert in check all that time, the love between those boys was palpable" Bathilda pondered./p
p class="MsoNormal"A gleam flashed across Ritas eyes, missed by her host. She had certainly unearthed a scoop, one that few others would take the time to investigate. Now was her shot, she thought as she made a hasty escape, to plot her story of the life of Albus Dumbledore. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span/p