A/N: You can call this a sequel to my fict "The Goldfish", about the werefishes (which really became famous on TBWL…), I just call this a similar fict. Only this isn't about Remus and his goldfishes, hehe… I believe most of the members of the Remus Lupin-fanlub didn't really like the idea of Remus and his goldfishes…. Ahem, okay… I didn't say that, did I?
I hope that my English has improved since that fict…
Rating: Well, I think it's PG.
Disclaimer: All the characters of this fict are of course JKR's, and not mine. The weregoats are born in my sick mind!
Goats and Doggies…
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… oh wait, wrong fict…
A long time ago, in the village of Hogsmeade, there was a small and happy family. Mr and Mrs Dumbledore had two sons, Albus and Aberforth, who were lucky enough no to be Dutch, because they both would have been called "Ab" by his friends.
Albus and his two years younger brother Aberforth grew up as two nice boys. They were smart and loved to help their father with the goats. But as they grew older, Albus lost his interest in these dull animals, which Aberforth didn't understand.
When Albus became eleven, he went to Hogwarts, though not with the Hogwarts Express, because he already lived in Scotland. (A/N: oh, I would love to go to Hogwarts with a steam train, from Kings Cross, although it was really cool to go to Scotland from Kings Cross with a noisy diesel train ;-) )
Albus was top of his year on all subjects, and top of the school, during his first two years. Then Aberforth turned eleven and enrolled at Hogwarts, then he turned out to be even better than his brother, the future "best sorcerer of the world" and all…
This was quit a shock for Albus, but he was still top of the class, so he didn't worry about is.
Then, one sunny Saturday afternoon in June, when Albus was in his seventh year and Aberforth in his fifth, Aberforth came to Albus.
"Hey Albie, big bro!" He said. "How are you, mate?"
Albus snorted, which made his brown beard twitch a little. "I am not your mate, mate," he said.
"Oh, come on Albie! Has your girlfriend left you or something, that you're in such a bad mood? You're just like that greasy old Snape-git!"
"Don't say I'm like him!" Albus replied with a cold tone in his voice. "And yes, my girlfriend has left me."
"Poor you," grinned Aberforth. "Maybe I can set one of my goats after her?"
"She's not afraid of goats…" Albus sighed. "Her parents are Muggles, and have loads of goats…"
"Well, I'm working on it to make my goats even scarier!" Aberforth replied, slightly angry now.
"Scarier than last time, I hope," Albus grinned. Aberforth went brick red.
"Well… I made a mistake then… they weren't supposed to become all pink and fluffy, like – "
"Yes, I know who you mean! With or without her doggie?"
"Err… I can try to turn another goat into a dog of course!" Aberforth said enthusiastically.
"Oh, that would be so cool! Come on! Let's try it!" Albus replied. "I also know a jinx so it will live for over a two hundred year! That one also should be working on humans!"
"It does? Can you work it out on me?" Aberforth asked.
"Of course! But, I'm afraid that when there's made a small mistake with it, you'll die…"
"Oh… well, try it anyway! Then I can learn it, and eventually use it on you!" Aberforth said.
And so it all happened… after Aberforth had killed a few of his goats while practising, he and his brother would live for at least two hundred years.
"Do you mind I'm going to try and learn a bit for my NEWTs?" Albus asked, after Aberforth had succeeded with the spell.
"Oh… no, of course not! Meanwhile, I'll try to turn a goat into a dog, so it can join the fluffy pink one on the mad-goat side!" Aberforth said, with a faked look of a mad scientist on his face. Albus laughed and went away to pick up some of the books he needed, and sat down under a tree on the grass at the Hogwarts grounds. His little brother really was an idiot…
Aberforth went away to his goats again. "Come here goaties… I won't hurt yeh!!!" But his goats probably thought different about it… they all ran around, and tried to keep as far away from him as possible. "Hey, that's not fair!" and he took out his wand, and Summoned one to him. The poor goat flew through the air, and landed with a soft thump! in front of him.
"Oops… sorry goatie… oow… that's gonna be a nasty lump…" said Aberforth. "Let's see if I can turn you into a dog. According to a book I read, I've got to use this spell…." And he mumbled something under his breath. But instead of turning into a dog, the goat began to bounce up and down in the barn.
"Uh-oh… that's not right…. Let's see…. Can I undo this??" then Aberforth noticed he didn't have the book at home… he had seen the book in the library of Hogwarts.
"Don't worry goaty, I'll fix this! But I've got to fetch that book first…" and he ran away to Hogwarts, but before he had left the farm they were living in, Aberforth thought of something… the goat was still bouncing up and down in that barn, and the goat would die if he didn't stop it. Aberforth ran back, conjured up some ropes and tied the goat to the solid-looking walls.
"Now, stay there, while I pick up the book," Aberforth said, and ran away again.
Albus, in the mean time, was gone to the library, because he wanted to do some research for his Transfiguration exam. He had had a top mark for his OWL, and he was sure he would get a similar mark for his NEWT too. Then, suddenly, without a warning, the door of the library burst open, and Aberforth came running into the library.
"What do you think you're doing, young Mr Dumbledore?" Madam Pince shrieked.
"I – I, err… well…. I erm… I wanted to ask my brother something… because I err…. I messed something a bit up, hehe," Aberforth panted.
"You messed something up?"
"Yes… well…. Sort of…."
"Uhuh… well, be quiet, or else I'll kick you out of here after all!" said Madam Pince with a glare.
"Okay!" and Aberforth walked quietly, but still panting slightly, toward Albus.
"Let me guess, you used the wrong spell?" Albus asked under his breath, but grinning broadly.
"How do you know?" Aberforth asked surprised.
"Well… otherwise you wouldn't ask me, would you?"
"You're right. I've made a mistake, but I don't know what it was…"
"What happened?" Albus wanted to know.
"After I cast the spell, the goat began to bounce up and down the barn, I don't know what I did wrong…" Aberforth shrugged.
"I think that if you just use a standard-anti-jinx, the goat will stop bouncing," Albus suggested.
"Er… okay, I'll try!" And Aberforth walked away again. Then he remembered he also had to know what spell he had to use, and walked back into the library, towards the bookshelves. There he found the book he had used before. He took it, and went back to his brother, to search in it.
"Oww…" Aberforth moaned. "I know what I did wrong, Albie… I just used the wrong spell… I think that I have been looking a bit… ehm…. Well… not right… here, take a look at it," and he pointed at two spells that were mentioned. The one was for turning any kind of animal into a dog, the other one was for making any animal bounce up and down. "Oh, look, it also mentions how to lift the spells!" he added enthusiastically, and he wrote down the spells. Then he stood up, put the book back on the shelf and ran out of the library, back to his goat.
Back in the barn with his goats, Aberforth succeeded in lifting the spell, and began to work on transfiguring his goat into a dog. After trying hours and hours, he succeeded, and his goat turned into an… "Lapdog??? Well… it's a dog!" Aberforth sighed. "Now, doggie…. Goatie, it's time to introduce you to the fluffy goat…" and he put the dog with the fluffy, pink goat, and went away, back to the castle.
Back at the castle, Aberforth went to Albus, who was now in the Gryffindor Common room.
"And, did you succeed?" Albus asked.
"Yes!!! It's a bit of a small dog, but it's a dog! And I put it with the other goat," Aberforth said proudly.
"Cool! I hope they let each other live!" Albus grinned. Aberforth laughed.
"Well, I think it'll be a miracle if the dog survives, after the bouncing!"
"Hey Aberforth, I found another great spell! They say that the animal will be glowing in the dark after it, unless you make a mistake with it…" Albus said.
"What happens then?" Aberforth wanted to know.
"I dunno. I think we'd better not try it… I mean, letting a goat glow in the dark? Creepy…" Albus shrugged.
"Yeah…. Where did you find that spell anyway?" Aberforth asked.
"Well… I er… I won't tell… I don't want you to experiment with it on goats," Albus said. And they went on discussing about animal-rights, but finally Albus told Aberforth. Why? I don't know, I think he used some curses…
The next weekend, Aberforth went back to his goats, and was relieved to see that the two transformed goats were still alive. To be more precise: they had become good friends! Aberforth was happy about that. He took another goat, and wanted to use the spell he got from his brother. He cast the spell on the goat, and it glowed green for a few seconds, then it looked like nothing had happened. Well, you can't expect a glow-in-the-dark-goat to be glowing when it isn't dark yet, can you? So Aberforth waited until it was dark, and went back to his goat. But to his shock, he saw that it didn't glow…. He had done something wrong… he had definitely hit the goat… Aberforth went to his brother.
"Albie, big bro, I think my spell-work is too good, lately… I – er… tried your jinx on the goat, but it doesn't glow in the dark…" Aberforth said.
"You didn't, did you?" Albus said, scared now. "And it – er – it didn't die???"
"No… should it then?" Aberforth asked.
"Well… I did some research, and if the spell wasn't put on the animal correctly, the animal would die… but as it didn't die…. I dunno dude, but I think you've got a problem…" Albus sighed. "And his time I can't help you out."
"Is it – is it really bad what happened then?" Aberforth asked anxiously.
"I dunno… but it can be… and you know that I warned you, friend," Albus sighed. "Well, we'll see what happens…"
"Oh… okay…" Aberforth answered. "I hope it's not too bad then…"
The next week nothing happened with the goat. But that wasn't something we could say about dear old Aberforth… he seemed to be loosing his memory. But not only that, he seemed to be forgetting how to read sometimes, or even how to write. Sometimes Aberforth even seemed to loose his mind. Albus was getting worried about him.
"Are you sure you are alright?" Albus asked after Aberforth told him Binns was getting angry with him again, because he didn't hand in his homework for the third time that week.
"Yes! Well… no, actually, I think I'm going mad… I think I've got to leave Hogwarts…" Aberforth sighed.
"No, you don't have to. You just go to the hospital wing, and you let check yourself out. I'm sure it'll be alright," Albus said, although he wasn't too sure. Maybe that was what happened when that spell hadn't been worked out well?
A few days later, Aberforth's condition wasn't any better. Actually, it had become even worse, he wasn't the best student anymore, he was more or less like Neville Longbottom would be like 140 years later..
Albus and Aberforth sat in the common room when Albus suddenly said: "Aber, do you hear that sound?"
"What sound?" Aberforth asked, and listened closely. "You mean that growling sound?"
"Yes. Do you know what it is? It sounds like a wild animal or something, but I never heard it before," Albus replied.
"Neither have I, I think…." Aberforth said, while he tried to think.
"Aberforth, do you think…. No… no, that's nonsense!" Albus said.
"Hey Albie," Aberforth said, when he looked out of the window. "It's full moon tonight! Do you think that it's a werewolf?"
"A werewolf? No, I don't think so. There isn't a werewolf living near here… oh no…. oh no…. don't let this be true… oh no…." Albus said.
"'Oh no' what?" Aberforth asked.
"Well… I just thought… what if you accidentally turned your goat into some kind of werewolf?" Albus said.
"No, impossible!" Aberforth said. But he didn't trust it neither, so he ran out of the common room, down the stairs, and out of the castle, to check on his goat.
But he didn't find his goat… well… he did find his goat, only it looked like some kind of wild animal. The goat had got giant fangs, long hair, had grown several inches, and had glowing, amber eyes.
"Uh-oh…" Aberforth said. Then he threw the door of the barn shut, and ran back to the castle.
"I think you were right, Albie. It was a wild animal… I think I've found another animal… the weregoat…" Aberforth said.
"Oh no… I hope this won't get known to the Ministry… because you'll have big trouble then…" Albus said. "You didn't put the 200-living-spell on it, did you?"
"Er… I can't remember… maybe…"
"Oh no… then you'll have big trouble… well, let's hope not…" Albus replied.
After a few weeks the goat appeared to be pregnant. They hoped that the young yet-to-be-born-goats wouldn't be weregoats as well. But after the goats were born, they appeared to be wrong, and the Dumbledores had about five weregoats then.
It took the Ministry of Magic a few month before they discovered that Aberforth had done something that wasn't really good… luckily they didn't discover that there were weregoats, they thought it was a spell for the glow-in-the-dark. But that didn't hold them from expelling Aberforth, who couldn't write or read anymore now, but had his memory back.
Aberforth wanted to get a job then, and he became the barkeeper in the Hog's Head, a dark pub in Hogsmeade. He also worked for the Order of the Phoenix for a while, but after it turned out he couldn't do anything anymore, he quitted that… The weregoats were never discovered, although they were really violent, and that's one of the reasons why I told you this. Even Hagrid never discovered the animals (luckily…), and Albus Dumbledore wants to keep it that way…
The End!!