Albus reached the market ten minutes prior to the time he should be there. As usual, the place was completely empty. Taking the keys out of his pocket, he opened the staff door and walked in, heading towards the lockers and dressing himself up. Holdings his glasses with his mouth, he tied up his long hair in a tight bun that would only begin to get loose around noon, and put his glasses back on, before tying down the apron with the supermarket's logo right on his chest. Checking himself in the mirror, he fixed his collar, made sure his eyebrow was nicely settled, that everything he was wearing was clean, and only then he walked out, locking his bag inside his locker.

Then, he headed inside the market, looking around and sighing at the emptiness. No one ever showed up to help him, and then, when their boss asked, he had no heart of telling him that he had done everything alone. Well, it was his own fault. Slowly, he walked towards the main power cell, turning on all the lights before giving a quick check on all isles. Luckily, it wasn't a real supermarket, considering how small it was.

He fixed some snacks that were falling, he checked the date to all frozen products, cleaned up the cashiers, and then he opened up the store, smiling out to the empty streets.

Everyone was still sleeping, but soon the little market would be bursting around with life and nice, sweet ladies that always gave him a little more 'to help your little brothers, sweetheart. Buy them some nice chocolate!'.

It seemed as if they thought Albus was more of a single father than an older brother, but still, he liked the sentiment.

A few minutes later, one of his co-workers showed up. He took his place at the first cashier without even giving Albus a good morning greet, looking more tired than an old man after a marathon. Surely he had spent the night awake partying.

What a lucky life.

Not long later, his other co-worker showed up. She was nicer, smiling to him and wishing a good morning, but soon she disappeared into the isles, and Albus was sure he wouldn't see her again until their boss showed up.

The last to arrive was the manager, who always showed up late. He was a slacker, he hated everyone and everyone hated him, but Albus still tried to be kind, asking how his night had been.

He was met with narrowed eyes and a scowl that almost made him curl up and roll away in embarrassment.

That was what he got by trying to be nice.

Around an hour after he opened the market, the shoppers began coming inside. Most of them were old women wanting to buy ingredients for lunch, while some others were university kids that hadn't prepared for the week and had a free period in the morning. Rarely someone around 30 or 40 appeared in the market by morning.

But none of it really mattered. All that mattered was that Albus was at it again, another day, another six hours of retail work, and then he would eat lunch and leave to the kindergarten.

Truly the life he had been planning since he was a child.

Shaking his head, he sighed and sat down in the cashier chair. It wasn't time to be sarcastic. He had work to do.

He only hoped Abe and Ari were having more fun than he was.

"Late again, mister Dumbledore?"

Aberforth stopped in the middle of the hallway, cursing under his breath before he put on a smile and turned around, holding his bag and pointing to the school's caretaker, a grumpy man that made sure to show his hatred for all and every student that stepped in the school's grounds.

Specially the Dumbledores.

"Heyyyyy Filch, my man" Abe said, grinning widely and walking towards the man. "Oh I've missed you sir, I surely have! You're looking great! Did you do something to your hair? It's looking incredible"

"Quit it Aberforth" he said, angrily, and raised a finger towards him. "If you think this little show will make you escape a warning for getting to school late, you are very, very mistaken!"

"Filch, listen" Aberforth said, putting his hand over the man's shoulder and grinning. "It's the first day after the winter break. Please, I just want to get to class… you know how things are at home"

"Your little theatre may fool the headmistress, but it does not fool me, mister" Filch growled, pointing his skinny, dirty finger towards Aberforth. "If you think you can use your name and your situation to get out of trouble, you are deadly wrong!"

"Aberforth Dumbledore?"

The feminine voice attracted the attention of both Filch and Aberforth, making them both turn around to see the headmistress with her arms crossed over her chest. Aberforth immediately let go from Filch's shoulder, swallowing thickly.

"Yes, miss?"

"To my office. This instant"

He could feel Filch's smirk behind him but did not turn to look, or else he would get into even more trouble. Holding his bag with both hands, he walked behind her, closing his eyes and praying that she wouldn't do anything too bad.

Aberforth followed her to her office and waited for her to close the door before sitting on the chair in front of her desk. She sat down as well, after him, and places her elbows over her desk, while he put his bag on the ground and looked up at her.

They stayed silent for a long moment, before she sighed.

"Late again, mister Dumbledore"

"It's the first day after winter vacation!" he complained, furrowing his eyebrows. "The road was filled with snow and you know I come here walking! I couldn't possibly come any faster!"

"Aberforth, this is your tenth time this school year getting here late" she said, coldly, and he looked down, the guilt heavy on his shoulders. "It makes me wonder if you are even interested in attending. Teachers say that more and more they catch you asleep during their classes. You don't do their essays. You disrespect their methods. What is happening Aberforth?"

"Your school doesn't challenge me. I get perfects in almost all subjects, and the ones I don't, I get beyond expectations. I'm never below average, no matter how many lessons I sleep through or how many essays I don't do" he huffed, crossing his arms and looking back up at her. She looked at him and sighed, shaking her head.

"Aberforth…"

"I know what you're going to say" he cut her off, rolling his eyes. "'Oh but your brother had perfect in all subjects, he never slept during any classes, he always made all his essays. He was the perfect student!'. Guess what? I'm not my brother."

"I was not going to compare you to Albus" she said, firmly, and he shut up, looking away from her again. "I know you are not your brother. But you have the potential to be better, Aberforth. I just want to give you an opportunity! You can go so far if you give yourself a chance…"

"My brother gave himself the chance, and where is he now?" he asked, coldly, and she looked taken back by it. "Working in a supermarket and in a kindergarten. Getting slightly above minimum wage every month. He was the most brilliant student in this school, he won several contests around the country and around the world and where is he now?"

"Aberforth, he is doing all he can to make sure you and your sister have the life you deserve" she said, furrowing her eyebrows. "He is letting go of his future to take care of you, give you the opportunities he wished he had!"

"Well no one asked him to!" Aberforth stood up, slamming his hands on her desk. "If he has to sacrifice his future for me and Ariana, I won't be the one to steal his dreams! I don't want to go anywhere! I want to stay here in Godric's Hollow, work somewhere bearable, have a simple life and take care of my sister so he can go and live his dreams okay?!"

The headmistress stared at him for a long time, before she sighed and stood up as well.

"I will give you a warning. I want it signed by him tomorrow, before class" she said, taking out a piece of paper and writing down her signature before handing it to Aberforth. "Two more and you will be suspended for a day. Understood?"

"Whatever" he muttered, pushing it inside his pocket and turning towards the door, getting out of her office and heading towards his first class.

He hated that school.

Working for Bathilda was one of Ariana's favourite things to do.

Not because of the work itself, nor because of the money (despite of her always giving Ariana an extra tip just because she was a 'kind, sweet girl'), but because it was the messiest house Ariana had ever been inside.

It was filled with books all over the place, writings made by Bathilda herself, pictures, diaries, everything a historian would love to keep to herself when she was lonely. And considering that her whole family lived in Hungary and surrounding areas, while she lived alone in England, and she had no husband, it meant it was a safe place for Ariana to stay, with no fear of being surprised by someone she didn't know.

So as soon as she was changed, she rushed towards Bathilda's house, ready to clean it up, make it tidy and organized, and then read some of her new books, learning all about history. Ariana was especially interested in the dark ages, when witches were said to be real and people had a deeper contact with their spiritual natures.

She opened the door to the house and closed it behind her, looking around the small, busy house. Slowly, she walked through the piles and piles of books, trying to reach the laundry where the cleaning products would be. She picked everything up in a big card box and took it all back to the living room, where she would begin her cleaning.

Before she began, she took out her phone and put on some songs to play, to keep her excited. Then, she grabbed the broom and began brushing the floor. She organized the books by colour first, and then decided to organize them by theme. Then, she mopped the floor, making it as clean as possible, before cleaning the furniture, walls, windows, and so on.

She spent an hour only in the living room, and then headed to the kitchen.

She would take a full day to clean that entire house.

Slowly, she made her way from the kitchen to the garden, and then upstairs, cleaning the guest room and Bathilda's bedroom.

When she was reaching the attic, around noon, she heard the door downstairs opening. She smiled, looking down to the stairs, expecting it to be Bathilda coming home earlier than expected.

Luckily, she said nothing, because the voice did not sound like the old woman's soft, kind voice.

"Auntie? I'm home!"

Ariana froze immediately, almost letting the mop fall. Holding it tight over the bucket, she looked down at the stairs, her fight or flight reflexes activating.

That was not Bathilda's voice.

That was a boy's voice.

A boy's voice Ariana did not know.

She began shaking as she remembered the only way out of the house was the front door. Stepping backwards, almost as if she was in front of an abyss, she stepped in a somewhat loose piece of wood, and it made a loud noise, petrifying her on the spot.

The silence was intense for a few seconds, just before she heard the first step on the stairs.

"Aunt Bathilda?"

He was getting closer.

Shacking in fear, she turned around, thanking the gods above that she had turned off her music for this particular room, and decided to hide behind some boxes, leaving the mop and the bucket behind, walking as carefully as she could towards the back of the attic and making herself as small as possible behind the crates.

Then, she quickly grabbed her phone from her pocket and found Albus' number, calling him once, while the steps became louder. Nothing. She tried again, but once more she could not reach him.

Not really thinking about it, she found Aberforth's number and sent him a message, knowing he wouldn't get her call in the middle of his classes. It was a desperate message, probably worst than the situation actually was, but she wasn't thinking right. She just wanted to get out of that house, she just wanted her brothers to come and take her away from whoever this boy was.

Eventually, his steps stopped, and he didn't come to the attic. She could hear him walking down in the second floor, but he never came any close from climbing to the attic.

After looking for a while, the boy seemed to give up, walking downstairs again and making her whimper in relief, hugging her legs and pressing her face to her knees.

She just had to breathe and wait for Aberforth to come get her.