"ARIANA!"
The bang on the door was surely unnecessary, but Aberforth wasn't one to be calm in normal situations.
And this was not a normal situation, which made matters even worst.
"Open. This goddamned. Door!" he yelled as he punched the door of Bathilda's house. The last punch almost got into someone's face as whoever was inside opened the door, and only by an inch it didn't hit the boy right on the face.
"Holy shit what is happening here?!" the boy asked, eyes wide, but Aberforth didn't even care. He just walked inside, pushing him away. "Hey wait a minute!"
"Where is my sister?!" Aberforth growled, grabbing the guy by the collar of his chest and almost lifting him up. He only didn't because the guy was a little too tall. "What did you do to her?!"
"What sister?! What are you on about?! Let me go you brute!" the boy yelled right back, pushing Aberforth away and huffing angrily. "I'm alone here! Your sister isn't in my house!"
"Yes she is! She said she was in Bathilda Bagshot's house!" Aberforth replied, walking closer to the boy again. "Where. Is she?"
"Listen you crazy lunatic, I looked around the whole house and found no one okay?! Your sister is not here!" he said, angrily, but Aberforth wasn't buying it. He grabbed his phone and opened the conversation, pushing it on the guy's face.
"There! She told me she's in the attic! And if she isn't there…" he said, trying to sound threatening, but the lad simply read the message and raised his eyebrow.
"Attic? I didn't check it"
"Oh don't worry, I will" Aberforth blocked the phone and began to rush upstairs, being followed by the blond boy.
"Hey hey wait a minute, you can't just walk inside my house with no explanation! I will call the police if you give another step up these stairs!"
Aberforth stopped, a smirk growing on his face, and he turned around, leaning down to be face to face with the lad.
"Do that" he whispered, making him stand his ground, looking slightly uneasy. "Call the police. You will see what I'll do to you when they arrive, pervert"
"I… what?" he frowned, and Aberforth rolled his eyes, rushing upstairs again and looking around for the opening to the attic. When he found it, he pulled the stairs and rushed up, looking around.
"Ariana?" he called, pushing the bucket away and standing up. "Ari? It's me Abe. Come out. You're safe now"
Suddenly, a shadow came out of the darkness and jumped over him, hugging him tight and whimpering as tears soaked his jacket. Sighing in relief, he held her close and sat down for a few minutes, getting her to calm down.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry! I'm sorry Abe I am so sorry!" she whimpered against him, but he just shook his head and kissed her forehead.
"Calm down Ari, its fine… Lets go home yeah? We can make some hot chocolate, watch some movies… what do you think?" he asked, smiling and caressing her hair, and she nodded slowly, despite of not moving away from him. He stood up, pulling her with him, and slowly made his way down the attic stairs and then down to the main floor.
She kept her face hidden against him, but as they passed by the living room, the boy stared at him, looking slightly surprised.
"So she was there" he said, and Aberforth showed his teeth like an animal as she curled up further against him. "Okay okay sorry…"
"Lets go Ari" he huffed and took her out of the house, leaving the boy behind and cursing under his breath. Ariana was slowly calming down, but he was still angry. He wanted an explanation, she wasn't supposed to be at Bathilda's today. And who the hell was that kid?! Aberforth had a short temper, that he surely had, so he decided against trying to find an explanation and simply take care of Ariana.
When he got home, he would call Albus and make him come home immediately. His cool-headed brother would know what to do.
"Albus?"
He looked up from the lady's last product, passing it through the machine without staring, looking at his co-worker that approached him with a phone in her hand.
"Yes Cam?"
"Your brother is calling. He said its urgent"
Albus furrowed his eyebrows and sighed, finishing the lady's bill and asking her for the money before nodding to Cam.
"Just a moment" he requested, and helped the old woman with her coins before waving and turning around, lifting his hand. "Give it to me. Can you stay while I go talk to him?"
"sure thing" Cam smiled and took his place, letting him walk to the backroom to talk to Aberforth. As he reached the coffee break room, he put the phone next to his ear and sighed.
"Abe?"
"Albus thank god! Why do you always take so long to answer the phone?! And why isn't your mobile phone with you?!"
"It is with me, its turned off Aberforth" he answered, rubbing the bridge of his nose with two fingers and closing his eyes. "Tell me what's wrong"
"Well what's wrong is that Ariana freaked out because she was alone with a random guy at Bathilda's house!"
Albus opened his eyes and blinked slowly, trying to process the information.
"Wait what?"
"Exactly. Come home right now!"
"Abe…" he sighed and looked away, leaning against the table. "I can't go home! My shift doesn't end until half an hour from now and after that I have to go to the school straight away!"
"Oh alright, so retail and a bunch of stupid kids are more important than your fucking sister?!"
"Aberforth, do not speak to me like this" Albus said, cold and firm, and the line went silent for a moment. "You hear me?"
"… yeah sorry" Abe muttered and sighed. "Please come? She needs you"
"God damn… alright" he sighed and closed his eyes tightly. "I will do what I can okay? Be home soon"
"Thank you. And sorry"
"It's fine Abe. It's fine"
He hang up and put the phone back on its base, sighing loudly and rubbing his face. Right. Now he just had to convince his stupid manager that he could go home and check on his sister.
Weirdly enough, he was able to leave without many problems. Cam even helped him saying she would cover the rest of his shift. He only had to make sure he got to the market earlier every day, which he already did anyway, so it wasn't too bad.
As he walked back home, he turned on his phone and dialled the number to his kindergarten friend, just to tell her he would be late for that day's lesson.
"Uh Minerva? Oh hi mister McGonagall, can I speak to your daughter? Please?" he asked, smiling nervously to himself. After a few seconds, the phone was given to someone else. "Minerva?"
"Albus? Why are you calling me during your shift?"
"Well" he sighed, turning towards a small shortcut "something happened at home... I needed to warn you I will get late today. Is it okay? I'm sorry..."
"Yeah Albus its fine! You know first days are always less busy" she answered, and he could hear the smile on her voice. "Gosh, I missed those crazy beasts"
"I miss them too. Very much" Albus admitted, smiling fondly. "That's why I still want to go today. I want to squish their cute cheeks"
"Albus, you would make a fantastic father"
"A fantastic uncle, you mean" Albus laughed nervously, shaking his head as he crossed the street. "Only having to be nice, never really needing to care of the kid"
"Well yeah, sure" she chuckled and then hummed. "Anyway, take care of whatever is happening home and I will watch over the little angels for you. We can talk more when you arrive"
"We sure will. Thanks Mirv" Albus smiled, and she shrugged it off before they said their goodbyes and hang up on each other.
Well, at least nothing too bad had happened yet.
"Ariana? Are you feeling any better?"
She looked up from her hot chocolate, nodding slowly to the smiling Albus next to her. Aberforth was pacing around the living room, clearly still nervous and needing to spend some energy.
"This is so stupid, we should just call the police and be done with this!" Abe growled, sitting down on the near by chair, and Albus sent him an annoyed stare just as Ariana shook her head.
"N-no! he didn't... he didn't do anything, it was my fault" she said, looking at Albus again and feeling her bottom lip tremble. "Please Albus don't call the police on him, I don't even know him!"
"I won't" he assured, taking one of her hands and smiling calmly, as usual. "Just tell me exactly what happened"
"I... Bathilda came home right after you two left" she started, her voice shaky, but way better than when Aberforth had found her. "She asked me to... clean her house as usual, but she forgot to tell me something. So I went, and I cleaned everything as quickly as usual. But when I reached the attic... I... I heard the door opening"
"And it was the boy?" Albus asked, tilting his head, and she nodded, sniffling and rubbing her eyes with her sleeves. "What did he do?"
"He... he called out for Bathilda. He called her... aunt?" she mumbled, furrowing her eyebrows and sighing. "Then I made a noise and he came upstairs, but he didn't see the attic's entrance, so he walked downstairs again and stayed down until Aberforth appeared"
"So he didn't find you, hurt you, do anything to you?" Albus asked, just to be sure, and Ariana shook her head, sniffling.
"N-no, he didn't... he didn't know I was there..."
"Yes but! When I got there and said my sister was inside he threatened to call the police on me!" Aberforth said, offended and angry, making Albus look at him once again annoyed.
"Oh really? Maybe because you came punching his door down looking for a girl he didn't even know was inside his house?" he asked, sarcastically, and Abe huffed, crossing his arms and looking away. "No wonder why he wanted to call the police on you Aberforth"
"Albus" Ariana said, and he turned to her, holding her hand on his own "I didn't mean to scare anyone, or make anyone mad..."
"I know Ari" he assured, smiling, and pulled her closer for a hug. Then, a brilliant idea popped inside his head and he pulled away, looking down at her. "hey, I had an idea."
"Really?"
"Yes" he nodded and leaned closer to her. "I will go talk to him right now, explain the situation, and then tomorrow, Bathilda will probably invite us to meet him in case he really is her nephew, so you, Abe and I can make a bit pot of cookies to take to them as an apology" he said, and she smiled, even if still shaky. "What do you think?"
"Even if he is Bathilda's nephew, I am not putting my trust on that guy" Aberforth said, coldly, and both Ariana and Albus looked at him. "He looked freaky. And also, why would someone from Bathilda's family just appear out of nowhere? No one from her family ever showed up in Godric's Hollow, why now?"
"That is not our problem. Besides, I think it is a good environment for Ariana to practice dealing with other people" Albus said, looking at her and smiling. "Both you and I will be there, she loves Bathilda's house, and maybe her nephew is a nice lad"
"I... I like that idea" Ariana nodded, smiling a bit brighter, and Aberforth huffed.
"Sure. Lead her straight to his lair"
"Aberforth, shut up"
Ariana looked between the two as they made a silent staring contest that ended up (as usual), with Aberforth rolling his eyes and Albus nodding to himself.
"It is settled" Albus said, standing up and kissing Ariana's head. "I will go clarify the situation, and then go back to work, and you two can stay home today"
"Okay! Have a nice day" Ariana said, smiling, while Aberforth rolled his eyes again. Albus looked at him seriously and hummed.
"And you will wait me awake. I want to talk to you" he said, firmly, and Aberforth looked back at him, a little taken back. He nodded slowly, hesitantly, and Albus hummed, walking towards the door.
Right. He could only hope his conversation with this Bagshot wouldn't take too long.
Albus reached the house slowly, taking his time and breathing calmly to make sure he wouldn't say anything that would make the situation worst. As he approached the door, he lifted his hand and knocked, only three firm knocks. Then, he waited.
"Yes?" came the answer from inside the house, muffled by the door. Albus hummed and smiled.
"Hey. My name is Albus Dumbledore, I am the older sibling of the two teens that showed up here earlier" he said, holding his hands behind his back. "I wanted to explain what happened, and also apologize in their behalf"
"Sure, come in"
Frowning, he lifted his hand again and twisted the doorknob, finding the door unlocked. He walked inside, and the house seemed empty. It was clean, Ariana made sure of that, but the books were still piled around, and he couldn't see anyone around.
"Hm... hello?" he called, softly, and closed the door behind himself, leaving the living room in the darkness.
Suddenly, a shadow moved on his left around the piles of books, and he gasped, stepping back in fright. The shadow stopped and he stopped, and then someone started laughing.
"Oh I'm sorry" the shadow said, walking towards the slightly more lighten up part of the room was. "I didn't mean to scare you..."
He stepped from the darkness to the weak light coming from the window, and Albus froze on the spot, looking at him.
As stupid as it sounded, Albus felt an immediate shot through his heart, and his body became frozen in time, staring at the heterochromatic eyes in front of him that seemed to be reading his soul and beyond. He felt breathless, his stomach turned painfully, and the world slowed down for a few moments, leaving him to study the person in front of him.
His blue and brown eyes, his almost transparent skin, his white hair thrown to the back, the sides of his head shaved, ears pierced on the shell, a neck that hid under a fluffy red scarf, a body covered by a black long sleeved shirt and a pair of comfy flannel sweatpants, and the most kissable pair of lips Albus had ever seen in his entire 20 years old life.
He was completely paralyzed.
"Um... hello?"
A hand waved in front of his eyes and he blinked, finding himself out of the trance and back in reality. The lad was now way closer, only a few steps putting distance between them, and he was staring at Albus as if he was an alien, extremely confused.
Albus felt his cheeks burning, almost as if he had been hit with a heated frying pan, and he both wanted to die and run away from there immediately.
"Are you okay?" he asked once more, and Albus could feel a whine forming deep into the throat, but he swallowed it down and gave the stranger an awkward smile.
"Hi I'm Albus Dumbledore" he said again, and the lad tilted his head, nodding slowly.
"I... know. You said that" he said, smirking, and Albus' heart seemed to jump out of his chest. "You are the brute and the lady in distress' brother, aren't you?"
"I... yes!" he said, and rubbed his eyes, sighing. "S-sorry, I... I am not usually this awkward..."
"It's fine" he assured, and lifted his hand for a handshake that Albus quickly noticed and accepted. "Lets start again. Hello. My name is Gellert Grindelwald, and I am Bathilda Bagshot's nephew"
"It is a pleasure to meet you Gellert" he said, shaking his hand and relaxing a bit, despite of the touch making his hand burn. "My name is Albus Dumbledore, and I am the eldest brother of those two teens that showed up here earlier"
"Great" he nodded and let go from Albus' hand, pointing to the couch. "Want to seat while we talk?"
Albus was pretty sure that if he sat down, he would be even more late to his work that day.
However, when he last saw it, he was already sitting down, with the most beautiful person he had ever seen sitting right in front of him.