Albus returned home feeling rather despondent. Aberforth and Ariana were gone, so he decided to take his mind off things by giving the house a good clean. He went from room to room tidying, scrubbing, polishing and dusting with flicks of his wand. As he worked, he couldn't help but mull over his relationship with Gellert. How was it that someone so beautiful, passionate and clever could be so cold and unfeeling? Part of him wanted to be with Gellert forever, but another part of him wanted to run far away and never see him again.

After tidying up and preparing some supper, he went to his room intending to continue writing his articles. He paused at the door for a moment and stared at the quill and parchment where they lay abandoned on his desk, exactly as he had left them that morning, before Gellert had taken him to the dark forest where he had seen Elke and the Inferi. It seemed like so long ago, though it was just a few hours.

He finished writing his draft on magical fields and worked on a few other pieces, which took him a couple of hours and left his mind feeling calmer and clearer.

Then a letter arrived.

It was delivered by a handsome brown-and-white screech owl, which Albus recognised as Bathilda Bagshot's. He took the envelope from its leg, slit it open and carefully unfolded it.

The writing was quite elegant and cursive, though somewhat rushed, as though written with impatience and great energy. The lettering was large and bold with a stocky, deliberate look characteristic of someone not familiar with English script. The style looked somewhat German or Gothic.

Dear Albus,

(I presume it is appropriate to call you by your first name by now.)

I will be occupied during the next few days travelling with my great-aunt. I may not have the opportunity to meet with you. As I am enjoying greatly your company I would wish for us to remain in contact via the medium of Letters.

During our last meeting you seemed upset by my words (an occurrence I am swiftly being accustomed to). I wish not for there to be any ill will between us.

I do not say things to offend you or to be merely controversial. Rather, I am passionate about the World and endeavouring to improve the Human Condition. As research wizards we must understand that we cannot base our views on mere Emotion. We must make empirical observations and apply the faculty of Reason.

It seems you are offended by my suggestion of sterilization of degenerates who are unfit to reproduce. On the face of it I admit it seems a harsh measure. However, no one who has objectively considered the facts and the alternative situations can doubt that it is the most humane method.

I am not dogmatic, rather I am open to considering other views. Heretofore I have not heard any strong arguments to refute my positions. However, I have great respect for your skills as a wizard and the qualities of your character, therefore I will take your views very seriously. I am willing to hear the best arguments you can produce.

You must know that the respect I have for you will not prevent me from subjecting the positions you articulate to the strictest criticism. It is only by application of strict criticism and vigorous Argument that we may expose false notions and reveal something approximating to the Truth. I know that as a logically-minded person you will not have it any other way.

I am hoping you do not find my company unpalatable, nor regret our acquaintance. I find our time together diverting, pleasant and educational. It is my dear wish that you would feel the same.

I remain faithfully yours,

G. Grindelwald

P.S. I thanked the house-elf for preparing our picnic. I do not think she appreciated it, but then, I did not do it for her.

Albus brought the letter to his face and breathed in its parchment-and-ink smell. There was nothing remarkable about it. What had he been expecting? Some trace of its author?

For Gellert's warm hands had touched this parchment and guided the quill across it. Gellert had sat at a writing desk and drawn this scroll towards him, dragging it across the polished wooden surface. Gellert had pondered, perhaps occasionally putting the quill's tip into his mouth (his soft warm mouth) before he wrote, his hard eyes gazing into space with that dreamy look they sometimes wore. Albus could see the image so clearly in his mind.

Slowly, he reread the letter a couple of times, savouring each word. Each time he reached the postscript, a half smile touched his lips, followed by a gentle shake of his head. He carefully rolled the parchment up, placed it in a box and locked it away in a drawer in his bureau. Then he composed a reply.

Dear Gellert,

Thank you for your letter.

I certainly believe we may call one another by our first names. I may be ignorant of the finer points of Etiquette, but I suppose that when two people's lips have touched, they are entitled to take the great liberty of addressing one another in a familiar fashion.

Yes, I must confess that I was slightly vexed upon hearing the comments that you made about Population. In retrospect, however, I see that you were not intending to be abrasive, but rather were expressing an opinion (to which we are all surely entitled) and I was perhaps overhasty in my departure. Nevertheless, I am certain (or rather I hope and pray) that our friendship is strong enough to survive whatever obstacles may be strewn in its path.

Regarding Population, I concede that the Earth cannot support an infinite number of men and therefore there must be some limiting force on population growth. Where I disagree with you, however, is in the solution to this dilemma. You would impose sterilisation on unwilling people whom you deem to be inferior in some respect. Surely you can see this would raise a number of problems.

What criteria will be used to determine who is fit to reproduce and who is not? Who will make this decision? Will it be forced on people against their will, in a gross violation of their bodily integrity?

I do not believe that this solution of yours is tenable. If we must limit population growth, let us do it through alternative methods such as education, voluntary contraception, abstinence and so on. I believe that these are the only humane options, contra your statement in your previous letter.

Most faithfully yours,

Albus

At suppertime the dining room looked very cosy by the soft glow of fresh candles. The smell of hot food wafted through the air as the clock on the rose-papered wall ticked contentedly, its pendulum swinging lazily from side to side.

Albus was guiding the stew pot onto the table with his wand when Aberforth came stomping in wearing a rough cloak and heavy boots, his hair dishevelled.

"What're you doing?" Aberforth said, stopping short as he caught sight of Albus.

"Very nice, thank you for asking," Albus replied as he summoned three dishes and three glasses from the kitchen. "And how was your day? To answer your question, I'm setting the table. Take your boots off, Abe, you're tramping mud all over the place. And if you wouldn't mind, would you be so good as to call Ariana?" He smiled at Aberforth, who didn't smile back.

Silently, a slip of pale blue appeared in the doorway. Ariana had obviously been outdoors, though unlike Aberforth she possessed the gift of becoming disarranged without looking scruffy. Her fingers twisted and bunched in the folds of her periwinkle dress as she stared at the ground. There were wildflowers in her long, tangled blonde hair. Albus had to laugh at the sight of her.

"Look at you!" he said. "You look like a fairy or a spirit right out of the wood!"

Ariana shot Albus a worried look, then glanced at Aberforth. Without making a sound she sidled along the wall, moving a few paces towards the table, where she stopped and waited, looking like a piece of living wallpaper ready to flee at a moment's notice.

"Well, my dear," Albus said, giving her a warm smile too. "Why don't you have a seat?"

Ariana crept away from the wall and settled on a chair, looking nervous.

"Why is she so timid all the time?" Albus wondered aloud.

"She's been through a lot!" Aberforth snapped.

Albus was taken aback.

"I know that," he said gently, "but she should know I'm not going to hurt her. We're at home, among family. She should feel safe."

Aberforth snorted derisively.

"Look," Albus said to him, "are you going to remove your boots or not? If not, just sit down before the stew gets cold."

Aberforth seated himself beside Ariana. He yanked his boots off one by one and hurled them behind him, where they struck the far wall and fell to the wooden floor.

Albus winced at the impact but decided to say nothing as Aberforth was already in a difficult mood.

"I thought you'd be with that Grindelwald boy," Aberforth said as Albus served the stew, ladling the rich brown liquid into their bowls where it gave off curling tendrils of white steam. At the mention of the name Grindelwald, Ariana stiffened and a kind of tension seemed to hang in the air with the plumes of steam.

"I was," said Albus evenly. "We had lunch together."

"He saw Ariana."

A stricken look crossed Albus' face.

"Well," he said, "Bathilda already knew about her, so he was bound to find out eventually. We'll just have to be more careful in the future."

"He frightened her."

"Did he?" Albus bit his lip and glanced at Ariana, who was staring into her soup bowl as though reading something fascinating in its swirling currents. "Oh, dear. He can be a bit intense at times. Mind you, Ariana's… well… she's even frightened of me, so it's not surprising that a stranger… "

"You're saying it's her fault?" Aberforth demanded.

"No!" Albus looked at his brother with a frown. "Abe, why are you so determined to be angry with me?"

Aberforth lowered his head to his stew, grunted and mumbled unintelligibly under his breath.

There was a minute of silence as they got on with the meal. Aberforth slurped his soup loudly and splashed chunks of bread in it. Albus wrinkled his brow but said nothing. He partook of his meal more civilly. As for Ariana, she ate like a wild bird, taking a small bite here and a nibble there before staring around as though looking out for danger. She kept shooting glances at Albus, but he was used to her strange behaviour and paid little attention.

Suddenly, Ariana inhaled deeply and seemed to expand.

"Albus…" she said rather breathlessly. "This stew… is... quite tasty!" Then she seemed to deflate and sink back into her seat with the air of someone relieved at having completed an incredibly difficult task.

Albus stared at Ariana with frank astonishment. He couldn't remember the last time she'd spoken more than one word to him at a time, in reply to his dutiful queries about her health. For her to take the initiative and speak without being spoken to…

"Thank you so much, Ari," he said, beaming, once he'd gotten over the shock. "Please have some more. And can I offer you some bread?"

Ariana nodded vigorously. Her eyes were bright, as though she found this new business of talking to Albus both exciting and taxing.

Albus broke off a hunk of bread and trimmed away the golden-brown crust that Ariana disliked before handing her the soft, steaming white insides. She smiled at him as she accepted it.

"I don't like that Grindelwald," Aberforth said suddenly and gruffly, shattering the peaceful atmosphere. "He's bad news." Once again, the mere mention of Gellert's name cast a pall over their supper. Ariana's face darkened and Albus felt inexplicably tense.

"Thank you for sharing," Albus replied. "However, as you have only met him once and are not well acquainted with him, I hardly think your opinion of him bears any weight. It is rude and unwise to judge people prematurely. Besides, I don't think any of us want to talk about him at the moment, apart from you."

Aberforth refused to let up.

"I don't have to be best friends with him to know he's bad news. Bathilda told me he went to Durmstrang. Durmstrang! That alone should be enough to ring warning bells for anyone in their right mind. I don't know why the brilliant Albus Dumbledore can't see it. Maybe you were taken in by his pretty little smile? And what's more, he was expelled. What on Earth do you have to do to be expelled from Durmstrang, I don't know – kill a teacher? And this is the kind of person you want in our house, with Ariana?"

In her lap, Ariana's hands twisted and clenched in the folds of her dress, but neither of her brothers noticed.

"For your information," said Albus tersely, "he was top of every class in Durmstrang Institute. He is a brilliant student: intelligent, disciplined, hard-working, original and ambitious. He has excellent manners and is a much better role model for Ariana than some people I might mention, who prefer to spend their school terms cutting classes and smoking illicit herbs in the Forbidden Forest. What would it take to get you to like him? A lack of ambition and an unhealthy interest in goats? Perhaps if you'd spent less time judging other people and more time on your studies… I noticed in your last report you barely scraped three As and managed to fail Potions…"

"Shut up! You are not Mum or Dad."

"And I thank the gods for that every day. I don't know what I'd do if a child of mine turned out like you. Unfortunately, Mother and Father are not around any more and so the burden of caring for you falls to me. I assure you I take no great pleasure in it."

"You're always trying to control me. You were always pretending to be Dad after he left!"

"I took the responsibility. I am the eldest child in this family and I did what I had to do. I understand the concept of taking responsibility is one that you struggle with…"

"Stop!" said Ariana, covering her ears with her hands. "Please stop."

There was a ringing silence, deafening after the exchange of raised voices. Regaining his composure, Albus felt ashamed that he'd let things get out of hand.

Slowly the three of them resumed their meal.

Ariana drew a deep breath and sighed.

"I wish I could go to school," she said. "I've heard so much about Hogwarts. How you two have so much fun there. I wonder what it would be like to see other people, to make friends, to try new things."

"It's too dangerous," Aberforth said.

"I know. Just a dream." She looked so forlorn and world-weary that Albus felt deeply sorry for her. Someone as young as her shouldn't be so dispirited.

"Now hold on a minute," Albus said thoughtfully. "If Ariana wants to go that badly, there might be a way. There are many students at Hogwarts with special needs."

Aberforth looked at Albus like he was mad.

"It's too dangerous," he insisted. "We can't let anyone else see her. They'll shut her up in Saint Mungo's."

"Not if I vouch for her. I'm a legal adult now and I have friends in important places."

"You are mad, aren't you? She wouldn't just be in danger herself. She's a danger to other people."

"No, she's not. Not if she's kept in the right environment. Perhaps it would be dangerous to overstimulate her, but I think everyone has a right to an education. It's a shame for her to miss out simply because she's had some ill luck. We could arrange some kind of lesson-by-mail system… perhaps if I speak to the Headmaster and some of the teachers, we could sort something out…"

Aberforth was glaring, but Ariana was staring at Albus with wide and shining eyes.

Albus smiled at her.

"It might be a little difficult for you to make friends in person. But that's no reason for you not to have any. Why, we could easily find you some friends to correspond with via letters."

"No." Aberforth slammed his fist down on the table, making the cutlery rattle. "It's too dangerous."

"I'm not sure that's for you to decide," Albus said. "I am the legal adult here."

"Well, isn't that dandy. Looks like you've taken charge of all our lives. Lucky for you that Mother's out of the way. Now you can make the decisions for all of us that we're too stupid to make for ourselves. Just let the great Albus Dumbledore fix everything."

"If you ever say anything like that again," said Albus intently, "I will curse you from here to next Tuesday."

Colour rose in Aberforth's cheeks.

Albus went on, "You know, Aberforth, this could be the best thing that's ever happened to Ariana. I've long suspected that you've done her more harm than good by smothering her as you do. Keeping her by your side and treating her like a fragile invalid will only prevent her from recovering. You talk a great deal about protecting Ariana and keeping her safe, but I suspect it has more to do with you than with her."

"And what does that mean?" Aberforth growled.

"I mean, let's face the facts, Abe. You are something of a ne'er-do-well. You are a failure at school and your rough, rude, unpolished ways make you few friends. The only person you're really close to is Ariana. Isn't the real reason you're afraid of letting her go out and meet new people that she might not be so dependent on you?"

A muscle twitched in Aberforth's jaw.

"She needs me," he spat.

"Not as much as you need her. In fact, I think in a perverse way you're glad she had her accident. Now you can keep her reliant on you for the rest of her life…"

"You bastard!" Aberforth roared. He hurled himself across the table and barrelled into Albus, catching him in the right eye with a punch so hard it snapped Albus' head back and left a ringing sensation in his ears. Aberforth grabbed Albus' neck and squeezed as hard as he could, but by then Albus had found his wand. A flash of brilliant light lit up the room as Aberforth was thrown back over the dining table and into the far wall, which he struck with a hard thump before falling to the ground.

Ariana rose to her feet, screamed at the top of her lungs and ran out of the room.

"Ari!" Aberforth raised his head from the floor. "No… don't listen to him." Slowly, Aberforth dragged himself to his feet. He glared daggers at Albus, who stood on the other side of the table with his wand drawn, breathing heavily.

"If Ari hates me now, I'll kill you," Aberforth rasped. "You already made Mum and Dad hate me and love you instead. And everyone at school. Ari's the only one I have. If you take her away from me…" Aberforth shook his head and walked stiffly from the room.

When he was gone, Albus slowly sank to the floor in a crouch. His eye felt swollen and raw and the ringing in his ears was intensifying.

Albus?

Albus glanced up. For a moment, he'd thought his mother's voice was calling to him. But there was no one there.

Mother and Father were gone. Ariana and Aberforth were gone.

Albus was all alone. He didn't understand how this had happened. It wasn't how things were supposed to happen.

He wished Gellert were here. He would know what to do.

A/N:

I'd like to thank everyone for their kind wishes. I'll add replies here when I have more time.

KnightKat: Thank you. I'm just taking things one day at a time.

I'm writing the story straight from my imagination without doing much editing, so it's not as polished as I'd like, but I think a raw rough draft has a certain charm.

Em: Thanks, my mother has a tough road ahead of her, but the diagnosis is more positive than it was before, so I'm sure we'll manage somehow.

MysticEyeGirl: Thanks for the recommendation. I appreciate the thought but we don't live in the US. Luckily we live in Australia so we have the best treatments available... the rest is a matter of chance.

Re:the hunger games. Ooh, that was harsh. I try not to be too judgemental about authors. I feel that I can learn from a book even if it's not perfectly written. It's not often that a book irritates me so much that I can't finish it. I did enjoy the movie. I'll see if I can get the book from the library or something.

I picked up the first Twilight book and tried reading it but it just didn't hold my interest. I felt too old for that kind of high school romantic fantasy. But if I'd read it at the age of 14 or something I probably would have been hooked.

Next Update: Aiming for Monday April 30.

I'm sorry to disappoint, but I'll have to delay the update for a few days or maybe a whole week. I've haven't had time to write anything but a few hundred words. Our house was renovated this week so I was sleeping in the garage for two days... and I have so many assessments coming up. I'm struggling with uni at the moment and I'm having family problems. I'll update when I can. Apologies.