...
"Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without words, and never stops at all."
― Emily Dickinson
...
A stunned silence followed. No one dared to say a single word. They were all staring at the blond haired surgeon, who now sat on the bed next to Harry by his wife's side.
Judging by the looks on their faces, Harry wasn't the only one who had never seen Aidan this angry. Even Professor McGonagall's eyes had widened in surprise.
For a moment they all just sat there in complete silence – well as quiet as it could be, considering the fact that the other people in the Great Hall who weren't seated at the 'Round Table', probably hadn't heard anything from the previous conversation and continued having a chatty meal.
Harry was also lost in his own thoughts…
And finally, the black haired wizard remembered where he had seen Arina's sparkling blue eyes before! Arina was Professor Dumbledore's child and she had inherited her father's eyes!
He still couldn't quite believe it! His godmother really was the daughter of the most powerful wizard of all times! And, above all, married to Dan; Hermione's uncle!
And considering the many enemies the white-bearded wizard had, it's no wonder that he kept his daughter a secret for her own safety…
Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to the present.
Xemerius was the first one to make a move. He shot one last angry look towards the completely dumbfounded Aberforth, then waved his wand to fix the window, which the Transfiguration Mistress had broken earlier with her burst of magic.
Madam Hooch, whose mouth had been hanging open for quite some time now, looked from Aidan and Arina to Aberforth and the emerald eyed witch and back to the surgeon.
"So Aidan, you really married Albus' daughter, hmm?" She asked, still a little stunned, but a small grin started to make its way over her face. "You really are a brave man!"
Despite himself, Dan mumbled a soft "You have no idea..." and chuckled. However, the smile on his face didn't last very long, since Aberforth had decided to choose this moment to raise his voice again.
He had a somewhat troubled, even unsure look on his face. "What – what's her name?" he asked and gestured towards the sleeping Arina on the bed.
Harry glanced at Dan, and for a moment, he really thought that the surgeon wouldn't answer, but he was wrong. The blond man tore his eyes away from his sleeping wife and looked directly in the eyes of the elderly wizard, whose chin had by now changed its colour to a light purple due to Snape's – well, pretty excellent – punch.
"Arina," Aidan finally told him. His low voice sounded surprisingly calm, but anger was clearly written in his eyes. "Her name's Arina."
The pub owner's eyes widened instantly and his mouth fell open, then he stared at the Transfiguration Mistress and his voice was shaking as he spoke.
"He really did name her after Ariana."
Professor McGonagall's eyes gleamed with fury. "You thought I lied to you?" She asked and gave an uncharacteristically dry laugh. "I may be a lot of things, Abe, but I can assure you that I am not a liar."
And for the first time since he had walked through the doors of the Great Hall, Aberforth looked a little ashamed. Then he moved his eyes once again to the sleeping woman on the bed.
"May I…?" He didn't finish the sentence and made a couple of weird gestures instead.
Harry figured that he was trying to ask permission to get a little closer to Arina in order to get a better look at his newly found niece.
"Would it stop you if I said no?" The emerald witch asked and rolled her eyes; Dan remained silent and just raised an eyebrow.
Hesitantly the old wizard got up from his chair, took a few steps towards the bed and frowned a little.
"She's a beauty. But she doesn't look like Albus at all…"
The deputy Headmistress made an unidentifiable sound.
"She has his eyes."
Surprisingly enough, the answer came from Snape – Professor Snape Harry told himself.
"Ariana had exactly the same…" Aberforth mumbled and seemed to be lost in thoughts as his pale blue eyes stared at the bandage that was wrapped around Arina's chest. "What happened to her?"
"Oh, so all of a sudden you're interested in her well-being?"
Harry had never heard Molly's voice sounding so cold.
"Molly…"
"No, Abe. Molly is right," the flying instructor said quickly. "You marched in here, bombarding Minerva with questions without leaving her any time to answer, and a bunch of judgmental thoughts about your brother without even thinking for one single second why the poor lass here is lying in a bloody hospital bed!"
"Rolanda," Severus Snape said, sent Arina one last look and sat down an empty chair at the Round Table. But Madam Hooch simply ignored the man and turned her yellow eyes back to Aberforth.
"You really want to know what happened? Alright. She jumped in front of a knife to save Harry here. It was one of the bravest things I have ever seen."
Aberforth's pale blue, slightly angry eyes immediately tuned to look at Harry, whose own eyes widened in a little fear. "You're responsible for this, Potter? I should have known – "
"Now that's enough!" The emerald eyed witch shouted and glared at the younger of the two Dumbledore brothers.
Ever since her magic had shattered the window, the Transfiguration Mistress had been in a sort of stunned silence, now however, her eyes were sparkling with fury once again.
"What happened wasn't Harry's fault. And you better start controlling yourself now and start behaving like the grown up you are supposed to be. Either that, or you will be leaving right now."
Most of the people at the 'Round Table' now wore rather stupid smirks on their faces, mostly due to the fact that the old wizard looked at the emerald eyed witch as if he had just received another punch in the face.
"She's Albus' daughter; and my niece," he emphasized, "you cannot make me leave, Minerva!"
"Watch me," was all she said in an icy voice, and Xemerius laid - just in case - a soft hand on her shoulder.
Taking a deep, somewhat calming breath, the emerald eyed witch turned her attention back to Dan and the Potions Master at the Round Table.
"It's good to see you up on your feet again, Severus," she said and gave him a kind smile.
"I appreciate your concern, Minerva," he replied honestly, then looked back at Harry's godmother again and a frown appeared on his face. "When will she wake up again?"
Harry's heart hurt when he saw that both Professor McGonagall and the surgeon shook their heads sadly.
"I don't know," the witch replied and glanced helplessly over to Dan.
"I found out that the knife which hit her had been drenched in some sort of an ancient sleeping curse. I have absolutely no idea as to where to start with creating the antidote," Dan explained, sighing and softly tucked Arina further under the blanket. "It's going to be alright, Princess. We'll figure something out, I promise."
Harry hoped with all his might that Dan would really be able to figure something out. He was about to ask him something when suddenly, Hermione made a weird sound and jumped up.
.
"What did you just say, Dan?" The young witch asked excitedly.
"He said that they'd figure something out," Ron reminded her, "didn't you listen?"
The brown haired witch rolled her eyes at him and shook her head. "I did, but that's not what I meant. I was referring to the fact that Dan called her 'Princess'!"
Ginny, Luna, Neville and Draco looked at her as if she had completely lost it. And even Harry had to admit that he didn't quite follow where she wanted to go with this…
"From what I can remember, Miss Gr – Hermione," Xemerius mused, "Aidan had called her 'Princess' ever since their first meeting at the Tri-wizard-tournament and – "
"Of course! That's why she looks so familiar!" Madam Hooch interrupted. "She's been your Ilvermorny Champion, hasn't she, Xem? And she even won the bloody thing if I remember correctly! But well… considering that her father was the most powerful wizard of all times, it's no surprise…"
She trailed of and lowered her head only to jerk up seconds later to look at the silvery eyed wizard accusingly. "Wait, wait, wait! So you knew about her existence, too?"
Harry almost laughed out loud at seeing Xemerius' boyish grin. "Of course I did. She attended Ilvermorny so I could keep an eye out for her."
"My, that's so Albus!" Molly said in a dreamy voice. "Sending her to another school so she'd be even more protected!"
"Well, Molly, actually it wasn't quite like that – "
One could only guess what Xemerius wanted to add, because he was interrupted by Professor Snape's voice.
"Please, let's get back to the topic. Granger's ideas are usually not completely idiotic."
In Harry's opinion, this was the first time that the potions master had complemented his friend. The result was that a deep, crimson blush flushed over Hermione's cheeks.
"Thank you, Professor Snape."
The next thing he said was even more unexpected and therefore almost knocked the breath out of Harry's lungs.
"Taking in consideration the previous events, I think we have reached the point where you may call me by my first name. That goes for you too, Potter."
Harry was too stunned to respond anything. Hermione's eyes also widened for a moment, but then she smiled brightly at the potions master and ignored her stunned and open-mouthed friends. "That is very kind, Prof – Severus. Though I have to insist on you calling me by my first name, too."
He gave a short nod. "Alright. Now tell us about this idea of yours that's been forming your brain."
The young witch nodded and took a deep breath.
"Considering Mrs. Longbottom's and – "
"Augusta, please dear. I'm not that old yet!"
"Well, that's debatable – ouch!"
Harry laughed out loud along with his friends when the silvery eyed wizard got a little hit on the back of his head from Neville's grandmother.
Smirking, Hermione started once more. "Alright. Like I said, Augusta and Madam Hooch – "
"Call me Rolanda, dear. I'm younger than our lovely Augusta here!"
"Wait, what? Why doesn't Ro get hit for saying that and I do?" Xemerius asked in a faked confused voice and promptly got two other elbows in the ribs from both of the witches.
Professor McGonagall chuckled and the Ilvermorny Headmaster looked at his friend and bowed to her. "Always glad to be able to amuse the Lady."
The emerald eyed witch laughed whole-heartedly for the first time in hours. Still smiling, she turned to the brightest witch of her age. "Hermione, dear, please ignore these three altogether and continue," she said with a small smirk playing around her lips.
The young witch also laughed. "Now what I have been trying to say is that the memory you were asking about earlier was about Arina and my mother double baby-sitting Harry and myself – "
"Now what does that have to do with – "
"Arthur, let her finish!"
"The point was that Arina was reading us a fairy tale," Hermione continued excitedly, "The story of 'Sleeping Beauty' to be exact."
Harry looked around and saw relieved that the others looked as confused as he felt.
"The important thing here is," Hermione continued quickly to avoid confusing everyone eve more, "that the prince woke the princess up with the power of true loves kiss!"
Several 'Oooh's and 'aahh's followed her explanation, but most of them still weren't completely following her.
"But my dear," Augusta pointed out rather sadly, "this is a fairytale. A muggle one on top of that."
Hermione nodded. "That's true, but in my opinion there are too many similarities that all of this is a mere coincidence…"
Madam Hooch and Xem didn't seem to be fully convinced either.
"What do you think, Minerva?" Madam Hooch asked and glanced at the Transfiguration Mistress expectantly.
The witch in question however, had a somewhat forlorn look on her face and like in trance played with something on her ring-finger.
"Minerva! That's not the right time for daydreaming…" Aberforth grunted.
"I wasn't daydreaming…" the emerald eyed woman answered thoughtfully, and Abe was spared the reprimand everyone else had expected to come from the Scott.
"I think you might be right, Hermione," she finally said to everyone's surprise.
.
"What?" This time Molly was asking, "What about the fact that it's a muggle - ?"
Professor McGonagall held up her hand to politely silence the Weasley Matriarch.
"I am indeed aware of the fact that it's a muggle fairytale," the animagus said and her eyes sparkled with hope. "But most of the time, they are based on magic that muggles accidently witnessed and sometimes they even include hidden clues for very dangerous and ancient magic. Also, remember that instead of inventing some kind of cover up, our ancestors just openly spread the rumours of the tales, to make the muggles believe they were only hearing stories. Sometimes they had the same effect even in the magical world. Take 'The Tale of the Three Brothers' for example…"
"You mean hiding something in plain sight?" Hermione and Harry speculated at the same time and the Professor smiled brightly at both of them.
"Exactly."
Ron, Luna, Ginny, Neville and Draco looked at each other with wide eyes. Xemerius, Rolanda, Augusta and the other Weasleys stared at the emerald eyed witch, once again stunned by her knowledge.
"Hold on a second. Do I get this right?" Dan asked with one eyebrow raised and looked from his niece to the Transfiguration Mistress. "All I have to do to is wake her up with true love's kiss?"
The people at the Round Table also looked at the two witches expectantly. And despite the seriousness of Arina's current predicament, Harry chuckled about Hermione's and Professor McGonagall's simultaneous shoulder-shrugging.
In times like these, he really almost agreed to the several rumours that speculate about the possible relation between the two incredibly smart witches! And right now they even wore very similar expressions on their faces...
"Considering that Arina didn't only prick her finger at a spinning wheel's needle, but instead got the whole knife stuck in her heart… I fear that the dark magic will probably prevail," the transfiguration mistress said sadly.
But at the same time she was looking at the surgeon and hope was sparkling in her amazing emerald eyes again. "But one can still hope, right? Perhaps we'll have for once the fate on our side…"
Smiling kindly at her, Dan reached out and softly stroked her hand. "It's worth the try. As small a shot as it might be…"
For a short moment, Aidan only looked at the sleeping figure of his wife; then he brushed her black curls out of the way, carefully cupped her cheeks with his hand and bent down and softly kissed Arina on the lips, pouring all his love for her in it.
Harry's eyes widened in amazement as a sudden wave of magical golden lights erupted from the couple. The light hovered over Arina and made her look as if she was glowing in golden.
No one said a word; they were all staring quietly at the scene and Harry was so lost in the sight that he didn't pay any more attention to the little mirror in Professor McGonagall's hand, whose liquid had once again started so swirl in a dark, crimson red. And suddenly, everything went blurry again.
"What in Merlin's name…" Harry cursed as he got up from the ground again. For some reason Hermione had managed to land on her feet, but this time, Batty had apparently followed them again. So the black haired young man carefully picked the animal up and put it in its usual place in his pocket.
The young witch sighed. "Since the last memories, we had a long enough conversation for the Mablomi to re-charge its energy and –"
"I suspected that, Hermione," Harry interrupted her and started to take a look at their surroundings again. "And as much as I love watching these memories, I would have preferred staying where we were. What if this fairy-tale theory of yours really works and Arina wakes up and we're not there?"
"Then Uncle Dan and Professor McGonagall will hopefully inform her about the Mablomi," Hermione said smiling and examined the new scene…
They were standing at a sort of busy street in front of a nice, old, typically English apartment with a – compared to the neighbors' houses – rather big and flowery garden. That was all Harry could make out in the starry night.
Professor McGonagall appeared all of a sudden in front of the medium sized, white painted house. Her dark robes were slightly torn, small strands of her hair fell lose out of her usually customary bun and her eyes were a little red, though there were no tears on her face. She took a deep breath before knocking on the door.
After some time the door opened and Aidan, dressed in grey pajamas, came out. As he spotted the woman in front of him, a concerned look appeared on his face.
"Minerva? What happened?" he asked, as he laid an arm around her and lead her into the house.
The old witch sighed.
"I... I need to speak with the two of you. Is Arina still awake?" She asked and her whole body shaking. "I want to tell you in person before you read it in the Daily Prophet tomorrow."
Dan just nodded, apparently wondering what his former Professor had to say.
Harry and Hermione followed them into the living room. The sight that greeted them was just lovely. Arina, also dressed in blue pajamas, was sitting on a sofa in between what seemed like a dozens of pillows, her eyes fixed on a little girl with bright blue eyes and blond hair, who was sleeping contently in her mother's arms.
"Harry, look!" Hermione whispered and pointed towards the baby. "I'm sure this is their daughter and my little baby cousin, Arielle! Merlin, she is so cute!"
Harry just smiled. "Indeed she is. And she seems to be the perfect mix of her parents."
Professor McGonagall, leaning heavily against the door frame, also watched the two for a moment, tears glistening in her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she walked further into the room and Aidan followed.
"Arina, Princess, we have a guest." He said and kissed both his wife and daughter on the forehead, before sitting down next to them.
The woman in question finally looked up, eyes widening and a big smile appeared on her face. She carefully placed little Ellie - which in Harry's opinion was a lovely abbreviation for Arielle - in Aidan's arms, stood up and hugged Professor McGonagall, her bright blue eyes sparkling.
"It's so good to see you again!" Arina said beaming and released the older woman.
Then she noticed the torn robes and the scratch on her face. "What happened?" she asked sharply.
Professor McGonagall sighed again. "We had a Death Eater attack at the school."
"What?!"
"How?!"
Arina and Aidan asked at the same time, shock clearly written on both faces.
"Apparently they had entered Hogwarts through a vanishing cabinet which young Draco Malfoy kept hidden in the Room of Requirement."
Immediately, all colour drained from Arina's face and she was as pale as a sheet of paper. "Is Harry alright? What about Hermione? Is anyone else hurt?"
The Transfiguration Mistress avoided the younger woman's blue eyes and looked at the sleeping baby in Aidan's arms.
"Some students as well as staff members had to be brought into the hospital wing, but they are safely in Poppy's hand now. Hermione received a few scratches here and there but apart from the current state of shock everyone sufferes from at the moment, she seems to be handling the situation fairly well. Harry… Harry is as well as I expect him to be at the moment." She finished in a sad voice.
Aidan walked over to the end of the room and placed his daughter Ellie carefully in her crib.
"Do you need me to come over and help Poppy?" He asked, ready to collect his things with medical emergency equipment.
The emerald eyed witch shook her head and sighed. "No, dear, she'll be managing just fine. But… But I – " her voice failed, a single tear falling down her cheek. She quickly wiped the tear away, clearly hoping Arina and Aidan hadn't seen it, but they did.
Arina starred at the older witch, probably as worried to see Professor McGonagall in such a state as Harry and Hermione.
"That's not all, is it?" she asked, her blue eyes looking at the transfiguration mistress suspiciously, "You haven't told us everything yet, have you?"
Professor McGonagall looked at both of them, her usually vibrant emerald green eyes now clouded with unshed tears.
"Arina, it's… it's your father," she whispered, not even trying to hide her tears anymore, "He… he is dead."
Aidan's eyes widened in shock and he took a sharp breath; his bag dropped soundlessly on the ground.
Arina didn't move at all. She just starred at the older woman in front of her and blinked a couple of times, apparently not wanting to believing the Professor's words.
Then all of a sudden the blue-eyed witch's legs gave in and she was kneeling on the floor, shaking and sobbing uncontrollably.
Ignoring the tears that were now freely flowing down her pale cheeks, Professor McGonagall carefully knelt down on the floor as well and took Arina in her arms, holding her as close as possible.
.
Before the two had time to wipe away the tears that had fallen from their own eyes upon witnessing this heartbreaking scene, everything changed once again and Harry and Hermione felt the now already familiar feeling in the stomach as they found themselves once again in different surroundings.
From what they could see, it seemed to be a really nice living room. A glance through the open window indicated that it had to be late at night and the only light came from the fire in the chimney and a little candle on the table.
Suddenly one of the many bookshelves moved aside and a tall man in robes stepped quietly in the room, though he couln't suppress a heavy and exhausted sigh once he had taken off his boot and put the books he had carried with him onto a small desk.
"Finally. The last ones just left! I tell you, it gets worse and worse each year! I didn't even know half the people there! Why can't they just leave me alone for one day?" Sounded the exasperated and clearly tired voice from Albus Dumbledore through the room.
Harry noticed that it must have been an older memory again, for Professor Dumbledore looked quite young – and as he had to admit really handsome - in the blue pajamas he was wearing.
Harry was about to ask Hermione who he was talking to, when he heard another voice.
"Well, it appears that quite literally the whole wizarding world wants to congratulate the famous Albus Dumbledore on his birthday," spoke a soft voice with a light Scottish accent.
Harry was certain he had heard the voice before, but couldn't really place it. It was one of these rather annoying moments when the answer was right there in the front but one couldn't quite reach it.
He looked questioningly at Hermione, but her eyes sparkled with excitement and she held up a hand, wordlessly telling him to remain quiet.
They followed the young Professor Dumbledore to the little couch in front of the fireplace and watched as he sat down next to a young woman, beautifully dressed in green silk pajamas and a book in her hand. Her long ebony hair was cascading down over her shoulder in nice curls and her emerald green eyes were sparkling.
The rest of her face was a little hard to recognize mostly due to the fact that the room was still a little too dark and 'the boy who lived' and the 'brightest witch her age' simply stood too far away.
All Harry did know was that she had an obvious glow around her, which made her even more beautiful.
"Wow. She's…" it didn't happen every day that Hermione was out of words.
"…stunningly beautiful." Harry finished the sentence and smiled at his friend.
Hermione just nodded beaming and continued to watch.
"It's late. Why are you still up?" he asked and kissed her on the cheek, then put his arms protectively around her.
"I know. I just wanted to wait for you. That's all." Harry smiled as he saw her snuggle closer to him, putting her head on his chest. The man with the short, auburn hair slightly raised an eyebrow and even though she couldn't see it, the witch continued.
"And I have another birthday surprise for you," she admitted smiling, lifted her head and looked up at him.
"You already gave me a wonderful pair of socks this morning!" The blue-eyed wizard exclaimed happily.
Harry had to chuckle, when he remembered how much his Professor loved socks.
"Besides," he continued and his blue eyes sparkled lovingly, "I have you. I don't need anything else."
This said, he carefully touched her face with one of his hands and bent down to give her a loving kiss.
"Merlin, that's so adorable. They look so happy together!" Hermione whispered excited and Harry nodded, completely agreeing with his friend.
After a few seconds the couple ended the kiss and the woman leaned back against Professor Dumbledore.
Then she took a deep breath, grabbed his hand with her slightly smaller one and placed it carefully on her stomach, covering his hands with her own on top of them.
Big emerald eyes, filled with love, looked up at him and a shy, but nonetheless beautiful smile appeared on her face when she spoke.
"I'm pregnant."
Hermione squealed in delight. And Harry too, smiled brightly at the couple, especially at seeing his Professor's stunned, wide-eyed and open-mouthed expression.
"What?"
"I'm pregnant." the young woman repeated softly and looked into his blue eyes. "You're going to be a father."
The auburn haired man didn't respond and the black haired witch naturally took his silence as a bad sign.
"Are you happy?" she asked, suddenly a little uncertain.
The young Albus didn't voice his answer. Instead he encircled her slim waist with his strong arms, pulled her even closer and kissed her passionately.
The last thing Harry thought before the red swirls came in once again was, that Aberforth apparently hadn't known his brother at all. It was plain obvious the auburn haired wizard clearly loved the beautiful woman – who Harry assumed to be Arina's mother – more than anything else in the whole world.
A. .: So, to sum this whole thing up a little without giving too much away: ARINA is Dumbledore's daughter and Aidan Gold's wife; Severus is just a very close friend of hers :) And Aberforth is behaving in this rather grumpy manner because he does feel hurt that he wasn't told anything about his niece *well, and of course because the brothers did have a rusty relationship before*
Everything else… well you'll find out in the next chappies :)
[By the way, Aidan is working as a Surgeon at St. Mungos in case you were wondering... for some unexplainable reason the name of the hospital never shows up in my writing O.o
Also, Arina has attended Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in America (Blocksberg was the name I made up since I hadn't heard about JKR announcing the other wizarding schools by the time I first started writing.) I will also correct that.]
Furthermore, I also apologize for the spelling mistakes in the last chap, I plan on going over everything again once I have a little more time to sort out SpAg-mistakes :)
A.N.:
As always, thanks again for all the Reviews/favs/follows! *hands out cookies*
Now to some things about the last chappie... I didn't mean to cause confusion, I just wanted to leave a little cliff-hanger :) But you didn't miss anything, all the answers are all coming now :)
*well, most of them... I cannot give away the nice little plots that are forming in my head now, can I? Where would be the fun in that? :)*
I still hope you'll like it,
yours, Lexi
