A/N: I don't own Harry Potter or any related characters
Word count:307
Warning: canon character death
Master of Death, that was his plan to become the Master of Death. He had a way to do it, if the story was to be believed, but then again everyone said it was only a story. He wasn't sure he believed them, wasn't sure there wasn't some truth to the tale. Like attracts like, and his heart soared at finding another on the same quest.
Two minds together and suddenly the old stories didn't seem to be so fantastical after all. The items had to be real; the wand, the stone, and the cloak, but finding them, that was the quest. It was their quest for a summer, pouring over old tomes, searching for mentions of their desired items. Hearts got in the way, beating in time with one another, love slowly growing and growing, even though they knew they'd need to part once school started again.
But...what if he didn't return, wasn't this quest more important than whatever waited for him at Hogwarts? He ignored the protests of his family, his brother begging him to stay, his sister who merely stared at him as if she couldn't understand the importance of all of this! They fought, him and Aberforth, screaming, yelling, and then...then shots fired. Ariana crumbled to the ground, Albus holding his wand, his lover screaming, scrambling away from the scene, wanting no part in what had just happened.
And just like that, a lifelong dream ended, a love destroyed and resentment put on a slow boil to overflow at some unknown point in the future. Head hung low, the quest forgotten as he tried to repair the broken relationship with his brother as they buried their baby sister, as they both avoided looking at the other, knowing they'd never know for certain whose wand cast the spell, which of them was the murderer.