ok, guys and girls, here you are! and yes i know it took ages, i am SO sorry! i have actually had this sitting on disk for weeks, but my computer is spastic and this is the first time it's let me log on... i couldn't sign onto >dies>
alright, this may not be the most eventful of chapters, but i wrote it for two reasons-
firstly, because this chapter has a lot of background stuff, mainly about Rigella's family, so you know what happened, what the Manor was, that kinda thing. i think that its important; maybe you wont, but bear with me, ok?
and secondly, i've been suffering from writer's block, and when i was writing this, i was stuck for ideas on how to get where i'm taking this... so i sat down and did research, you know, Rigella'sfamily history, stuff like that, worked out all the dates and stuff.
on that note, i'm setting this as the Marauders' fith year being in 1972-1973, therefore you can assume they finish in '75 and the Potter's wedding is between then and Harry's birth in 1980. ok? good.
thanks as usual to all my reviewers- (DarkKestralSilkeQueen- I get it! yes, definately would be... hmm, maybe i can include her thoughts on it later... thanks... you've sparked a few thoughts...) i'd go through and thank you all, but i'm scared i'll forget someone!
while i'm here, i'll do something different and say, ah, what the hell! this chapter is dedicated to Countess Zephyr, for her little joke which i managed to write in. thanks hun; it tickled me too!
you want dedications and updates? REVIEW!
hugs all round
Rigella
ps: oh, and while i'm here- all the names in my fic have meaning. its always been that way, but as you'll see, there are a ton more names in this chapter. i actually went out and bought two new books to help me with that (ta Reena!), as well as digging through a dictionary for Rigel's mother's maiden name.
kudos, brownie points, and a dedication to anyone who can tell me two or three names and what they mean (yes, that's a challenge :P)
The Fourth Dumbledore Child
Now that Rigella was speaking to him again, it seemed to Sirius that the days no longer dragged on. Time flew by, and in no time, November was over, and Christmas was fast approaching.
Every night Sirius and Rigella watched the skies together, lying on the grass on the slope above the grounds. They tracked the passage of their stars across the heavens; Sirius remarked once that he had learned more with her in a few weeks than he had in years of astronomy classes. She laughed and told him that if he'd payed even half as much attention to the professor as he did to Quidditch and Wizard's chess, he would have already known everything she had to teach.
Even after a month of Rigella being at Hogwarts, students still couldn't believe that there could be someone else with the name Dumbledore. A prefect's cry of "You, Dumbledore, the headmaster wants to see you!" as he ran down the corridor towards her caused all students within a 20 foot radius to stop and stare. Some laughed. Rigella smiled wryly as the prefect reached her.
"Eh, that's just weird…" he muttered, puffing slightly. "The headmaster wants you, Rigella," he rephrased, talking quickly, before walking off, his face red.
"Would that be like, Dumbledore, Dumbledore wants to see you?" someone asked. The students erupted with laughter. Rigella smiled and shook her head as she continued along the hall with Sirius and Remus.
"Honestly, they didn't think he was the only Dumbledore in the world, did they?" she asked, sounding amused.
"I think they did," Remus said quietly, smiling slightly.
Rigella looked as though she wanted to say something, but ended up sputtering in speechless disbelief.
The trio looked at each other and suddenly began to laugh.
PARAGRAPH BREAK
Dumbledore leaned over the parchment on top of the stack on his desk and sighed. Lately, his mind would not stay on his work; at least, not the tedious, tiresome kind of work related to running a school. He supposed he had reason; thanks to Voldemort, the family he had thought safe were now dead, along with all the other wizarding people who had sought refuge at the Manor. There were only two people now living who shared his blood.
The first was his younger brother, Arberforth. Well, at least Albus didn't have to worry about him. The eccentric old man lived in Saint Mungo's all but officially; Dumbledore didn't believe Voldemort would go after the man there, if he did at all- Arberforth was too… unpredictable for him to be a reliable target. Believed by many to be quite mad, Aberforth had a habit of getting out of strange situations apparently by accident, in ways that usually involved walking canes, exotic animals and at least two kinds of fruit.
Albus sighed and pulled off his glasses, dropping them to the parchment. He rested his chin on interlaced fingers.
The other was the one he worried for: Rigella, his great-niece.
He thought of his other brother, Algenib, long in his grave. It was Algenib who had first developed his family's love of the stars. Equalled only by his passion for horses and the love of his family, all his children took their names from the stars- Aldebaran, Alnath, and Pleiades. The eldest of these, Aldebaran, shared his father's loves, and continued the new found tradition of star names.
When both Alnath and Algenib were slain by Grindelwald, Aldebaran became the sole guardian of his sister Pleiades. He loved her dearly and her loss only a few years later nearly killed him. For a time he wandered the world, finding no happiness, no peace anywhere. And then he went to Greece…
It was in Greece that Aldebaran met Orius Terpsichorean. She was beautiful, her eyes deep blue, her hair, black and glossy, falling richly down her back, and she was young. Although she was nine years his junior, both the Dumbledores and the Terpsichoreans had the long life spans of the ancient families and to the two, this gap was barely acknowledgeable. It didn't take them long to fall in love.
It did take them time to admit it, though…
For a few years, the two roamed the world together, each stubbornly denying that they were following the other, and refusing to fall in love. Eventually time – and fate – caught up, and their love was tried, tested- and proven.
After they married, Aldebaran and Orius returned to Aldebaran's childhood home, known simply as The Manor. It was in the southern part of the world, far from the noise and bustle of wizarding Europe. After so many years of wandering, the couple felt the longing for peace.
Late in 1942, just after she had fallen pregnant with their first child, Orius had prophesy, warning her of a "darkness" stirring in the world. She told Aldebaran what she had foreseen, and they decided to turn the Manor into a refuge for those in need. Aldebaran wrote to Albus, asking his help; his uncle agreed.
It wasn't until their first son, little Aldebaran, was walking unaided that the first of the refugees arrived- a family from Bulgaria, who spoke of a nameless wizard who came in the night, whispering evil.
As time went on, the family grew, and so did the number of those who came to The Manor. From all over the world, wizarding people came bearing the tale of the same wizard, known only as 'The Darkness'. By the time little Aldebaran had two brothers, it was 1955 and the new comers began to give The Darkness a name- Voldemort.
Albus sighed, mind whirling with memories dredged from places deep within. The names and faces of his dead kin flashed before his eyes- His nephew and his nephew's wife; Their first son, Aldebaran, strong like the father he was named for; Rosemary, the woman he married, and their little girl, barely three years old; Saiph, Orius' second son, elfin and in love with the world; Alnilam, the mischievous eighteen year old born on April Fool's day, which amused his father greatly and suited his personality; Alnitak, four and innocent, his face still round and dimpled, and his twin, little Mintaka, who died when she fell while playing at only three years old, and the two little babies who died before they were born…
So many; so many gone. Even after all their preparation, only one of them remained…
The fourth Dumbledore child was different to the rest. Whilst the three eldest were sons, each strong and as different as snowflakes, the fourth child Orius bore Aldebaran was a daughter.
As she grew, the feisty child idolised her brothers, wanting to be just like them, knowing she was different and fearing rejection because of it. Often she shed tears of frustration as she learned that she could not do all they could. Albus remembered well the little girl who had cried, sitting on his knee when he visited, telling him how she didn't want to be weak, she didn't want to be a girl.
He knew, even if she didn't, that there was nothing weak about her. In time, with the help of her brothers, her parents, Albus himself and the Gift she received for her fourteenth birthday, she, too, came to see that her worth lay within her…
A soft tap on the door stirred Albus from his reverie. He stood as the carved wood moved and a student entered his study.
"Rigella," he greeted her warmly, opening his arms as she shut the door.
His great-niece smiled, before peering around the room and clicking her tongue at him.
"Uncle, how can you work in this darkness?" she scolded gently, waving her wand. Flame blossomed from the wicks of candles that Albus hadn't noticed were out.
He chuckled to himself. Oh yes; there was nothing weak about the fourth Dumbledore child…
