"Come on, Snowdrop, come on." A smile glowed on Ariana's face as she knelt, patting her hands against her legs, beckoning the smallest goat towards her. "Come on, now. Time for your rest."

Snowdrop was enjoying his freedom and had no intention of returning to the barn any time soon. He gambolled about the grass on his stubby legs, ears flopping, chewing nervously and shooting glances at Ariana with his slotted goat eyes.

The sun was setting and purple curtains of dusk were drawing close around Godric's Hollow. Aberforth stood by the open barn door, arms crossed, watching Ariana as she watched the goat. There was such a simple, happy expression on her face. It made him hurt and angry, as it always did, to think about what his sister had gone through and what it had done to her. For such a young girl to suffer that... if the gods existed, which he doubted, they were cruel and sadistic bastards.

They'd had a nice day. He and Ariana had taken their four remaining goats out to browse, down the village path, up the green hills where the grass was lush and the summer flowers were in full bloom. As always, when she'd first come out of the house, she was nervous and walked very close to him, gripping his hand tightly and staring warily in every direction. By the time they'd reached the hills, however, she had relaxed a little, and even laughed to see all the flowers in their midsummer glory.

"Snowdrop!" Ariana rose to her feet and ran after the little goat, giggling, her footsteps unsteady as a child's. The goat dodged nimbly out of her way, its hooves skittering as it ran back and forth. After a while, though, it stopped and allowed Ariana to catch it. She wrapped her arms around it, lifted it and carried it back to Aberforth.

"He ran, but I caught him," she said proudly.

"He let you catch him," Aberforth told her. "He likes you. Put him in the barn and we'll close the door."

She knelt again, lowered the goat to the ground with exaggerated care and chivvied him inside. "In you go, Snowdrop. You'll be nice and warm and safe in there. I'll see you tomorrow."

Aberforth murmured a few words under his breath and made a few complicated motions in mid-air with his wand. The door of the barn swung shut and locked itself with a loud click.

"Come on," said Aberforth, taking his sister's hand. "Let's get something to eat now. We'll have to find our own supper. I'm sure Mr High and Mighty was far too busy with his books to fix anything for us."

"Please don't call Albus names," Ariana said sadly. "He's our brother. Our family. We need to be nice to each other. We don't have anyone else to look after us."

"I'm sorry," Aberforth said at once, cursing himself for a fool. He'd made Ariana sad, and he hated to see that look on her face. "I promise I won't call him names again." Not where you can hear, anyway.

Albus, our family? He doesn't need or want us for his family. He had all his great and famous friends at Hogwarts, and he never had time for us then. Why would the great Albus Dumbledore want to be saddled with a loser brother and a disturbed sister? He hates being stuck here and he hates us. You can see it in his face, every time he looks at us.

But Ariana couldn't see it. She wasn't good at reading other people's emotions, and in her childlike innocence she simply assumed the best of others. All she knew was that Albus was the smart, strong, big brother who had come back to take care of them after their parents had... gone away.

As they walked across the field towards the house, a breeze rustled the grass, stirred the branches of the trees and curled around them, carrying the scent of wild herbs.

"Snowdrop doesn't like going into the barn," Ariana said softly. "Even though he has to, to be safe, because there are dangerous things out there in the world, things that can hurt you. But he wishes he didn't have to be locked up in there all the time. He wishes he could be free. I know how he feels."

Aberforth wished he knew what to say to that, but he didn't, so he was silent.

Ariana turned her head to look at him. "I've seen foxes. They sneak into barns sometimes. Are you sure the goats will be safe?"

"I cast the protective charms around the barn myself. They will be safe."

"Promise?"

"Ariana, I promise I won't let anything bad happen to them." Or to you.

"Thank you, Abe."

Once they were inside, Ariana sat in the lounge room, in the rocking chair by the fireplace, while Aberforth went into the kitchen to find something to eat. He surveyed the pantry, larder and cupboards before returning to his sister. Ariana was staring into the fire in that strangely intent way she had, as though she was watching something in the flickering, dancing flames that no one else could see.

Aberforth said, "We have bread, cheese, jam, eggs, nuts and pudding... anything you fancy?" Ariana didn't eat meat, probably because she spent a lot of time with their animals and thought of them as her friends, and when Aberforth was dining with her he followed her lead. Before Ariana could reply, however, Albus entered the room.

He looked very smart, dressed in a suit of formal dress robes beautifully embroidered with floral designs, but all in black as a sign of mourning. He looked more absent-minded than usual. Aberforth felt the usual scowl settle on his face at the sight of his brother.

"Ah, Aberforth," Dumbledore said. "There you are. I've been looking for you the past two hours. Where've you been?"

"Ariana and I went for a walk with the goats."

"Goats? Oh. I see. Well, I'm sure I mentioned before that Ms Bagshot invited me to a dinner at her house this evening. Her great-nephew has just arrived from Germany."

Aberforth hated the way Albus just ignored Ariana when he spoke, as though she wasn't in the room.

"I was going to ask you and Ariana if you would like to come with me. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea... I mean, it would be good for her to get some company, but in her condition it wouldn't do to get her over-excited. So I meant to ask you whether the two of you would like to come along, or, if not, would you stay and watch her for me?" Albus fiddled with his collar and tugged at his sleeves.

"We'll stay," Aberforth said firmly.

"Are you sure? Will you be all right for dinner?"

"Yes," Aberforth said gruffly, turning away and going to sit beside Ariana. "Off you go. We'll be fine here."

"Oh... right then. Well, I'd best be off. I should be back by nine, possibly ten. Do keep an eye on things, and if you need anything, you know where to find me."

Aberforth grunted. Albus left, and soon after there was the sound of the front door closing with a soft thud. For a moment there was no noise but the crackling and spitting of the flames. Aberforth turned his head and watched Ariana's still form, the firelight washing over her yellow hair and peaceful face as she sat and slowly rocked, her eyelids drooping half-closed as though she were falling asleep.

"What are you looking at, Ariana?" Aberforth asked her.

It was half a minute before she replied. "I see things," she said softly. "In the fire."

"What kind of things?"

"Shapes. People. Places. I see the rain falling on the hills. I see the river running down the mountain. Our family, all together and happy. Albus getting on a red train to go to school. Mama in a big box, being put in the ground. Snowdrop and the goats, running on the grass. The big dog, stalking behind them."

"Big dog?" said Aberforth sharply. "What big dog?"

"The dog from the church," Ariana said dreamily. "It was there when Mama was put in the box. It stood by the gravestones, by the stone gods and angels, and looked at me with burning eyes. It wanted me to go with it, but I was scared. It's following me now, walking down the hills, along the road to our house, coming closer and closer..."

"That's enough!" Aberforth stood and pulled Ariana away from the fire, pulled her to his side. "That's enough now. You're tired, you don't know what you're saying. Come into the kitchen. We'll eat something."

As he led her out of the room, his hands were shaking.

A/N:

Thanks a lot for the review, Nath F! I really appreciate it.