The Dumbledores followed Bathilda and Gellert to the kitchen, sitting by the table and gathering around the food. Bathilda sat in one end, with Gellert next to her, and Ariana and Aberforth sat side by side on the other side, leaving only the other head of the table or the place next to Gellert to Albus. Considering he was not a part of the family, he sat next to the blond out of pure respect and tradition, despite of not really feeling like it.
"I did my special recipe of Sheppard Pie. I've heard it is an Irish dish, and your family is from Ireland isn't it?" Bathilda asked, looking around the three red heads. Aberforth nodded, smiling at her.
"Yes, we are. But like, our grandparents were from Ireland. We have never even been there" he shrugged it off, before his attention fell on the pie. "Although I must say, this looks delicious miss."
"Call me Bathilda Aberforth!" she laughed, nodding to them. "Please, serve yourselves! Gellert, lovely, could you please make me a plate?"
"Of course nagynéni" Gellert answered, taking her plate, waiting just for Aberforth to take some for himself, despite of Albus' glances. Ariana just rolled her eyes at the silent fight her brothers were having over Aberforth's lack of manners, and turned to Gellert, who was finally serving Bathilda.
"Are you fluent in Hungarian?" she asked, noticing the different word he used, and he looked up at her before nodding.
"Yes, I am. I've lived there my whole life" he chuckled, giving a little sarcastic smirk at her. "If I didn't speak their language, I don't think I would have been able to do two classes in any school."
"Well yes, but you are also fluent in English, so I imagined you studied in a foreign school in Hungary" she replied, just as witty, and his smirk became a smile.
"I like you" Gellert said, and nodded his head so she would serve herself. She did so, getting some pie and some potatoes. "Well I studied in a full Hungarian school, but I did study English as well. Like I said, my family is from Servia, so I also know their language. And I took German classes, just in case I was able to make my internship over Germany."
"You're fluent in four languages?" Aberforth asked, trying not to sound amazed and not being able to. He was clearly impressed, although not in a good way. Gellert looked at him and smiled, ever so kindly.
"Fluent yes, but I am currently studying two others. My French speech is fluent but I cannot write it even if I try very hard. My Portuguese is the contrary. I can write it extremely well but the pronunciation is difficult" he said, and Aberforth's mouth opened a bit. Bathilda giggled.
"Oh my sweet boy loves to study. That is what he has done all his life" she said, tapping his shoulder lightly. Aberforth's surprise left his face and it became an angry stare, but the old lady did not seem to notice. Albus, however, was mesmerized.
"And here I was thinking studying three languages was enough" he chuckled, and Gellert turned to face him, smiling.
"What do you study?"
"Well, I did a German course a few years ago, but speaking it is very hard for me" he chuckled, looking down at his plate before he began serving himself, the last in the table to do so. "But I also love studying dead languages."
"Which ones you know?" Gellert pressured, interested, leaning his head on his hand and making Albus chuckle shyly.
"Um, I study Latin and Ancient Greek. Those are my favourite languages out of the dead ones. Although my mother wanted me to study ancient Gaelic."
The table went silent suddenly. Albus kept his glance on his plate, while Aberforth immediately put his plate down and Ariana looked up at her older brother, surprised. Bathilda even looked around, uncomfortable, while Gellert stared to the people on the table, trying to understand the sudden silence.
"And… she doesn't anymore?" he asked, confused, trying to keep the conversation going despite of the awkward moment. However, he was met with a clink from a fork falling on a plate and the empty stare of the middle Dumbledore.
"She's dead."
Albus visibly winced at that, giving Aberforth a quick look, while Ariana placed her hand on her brother's leg, trying to calm him.
"Abe…"
"You know what? This was a horrible idea, I have no clue why I accepted to come here" Aberforth said, coldly, and stood up, making Ariana gasp and Albus snap his head up.
"Aberforth!"
"Sorry miss Bagshot, I didn't mean to ruin your dinner like this. I bet your nephew can be an incredible person but I surely don't see it, and I never wanted to come here in the first place" he said, pushing his plate away and circling the chair he was sitting on to push it under the table. "Also you forgot the beans in your Sheppard pie so next time, find a real Irish recipe before trying to make someone happy. Excuse me."
And just like that, he turned around and walked out of the kitchen. Ariana stood up immediately, with Albus following right behind, both looking between the kitchen entrance and the table.
"I'm so sorry Bathilda. I'm sorry Gellert" Ariana said, in a rush, and ran off after her brother, the three left listening the front door bang twice, once strong and the second time softly.
Albus stood still for a few seconds before looking down at house owners and sighed shakily, pushing his chair under the table.
"I am very very sorry" he whispered, before he left as well, running after his siblings. "Ariana! Aberforth!"
He ran towards their house, looking around the dark streets. After running for a short time, he heard someone talking on the side of the road, close to the little river that passed by the village, and rushed to it, seeing two shadows at moonlight.
As he approached, he relaxed, listening to their familiar voices.
"You have to calm yourself down Aberforth!"
"Calm myself down?! Ariana, how can you say something like that?! He-"
"Abe, Ari, I… I am so sorry" Albus said as he approached, looking between the two. Ariana sighed, shaking her head.
"Albus, it's fine. We-"
"Fine?!" Aberforth asked, and let out a dry, fake laugh. "Fine? So that's what it is. Fine. It is just fine that you spoke about her in the first ever time you saw that creep! Or maybe it wasn't, was it? Did you and he have a nice chat yesterday?"
"Aberforth, I didn't mean to say anything" Albus tried, his voice serious, but all of them could notice how shaky it actually was. Aberforth chuckled again, and brushed his hair back, turning away from Albus. "It's true! It just came out, I-I don't know why I said it!"
"Of course! The guy that says nothing wrong, that is known around town as the boy that always knew how to answer a question, a person that claims to be extremely good at 'formulating phrases' couldn't think for a second before saying something like that to a stranger!" Aberforth said, turning around and pointing at him. "You should have fucking known better than to open that huge mouth of yours!"
"Aberforth stop!" Ariana said, her voice trembling as she watched her brothers fight. Her eyes were filling up with tears as she walked closer to him. "Aberforth please stop this! Albus didn't mean any harm!"
"You know how long we haven't spoken about them? About her? Two whole years" Aberforth said, shaking his head. "We haven't said anything. The three of us have never had a conversation about it. And you go there, at the first dinner with that bleached haired asshole and says it as if it is weather talk!"
"We haven't talked about it because you don't want to, Aberforth!" Albus screamed back, and both Ariana and Aberforth stepped back, with him in front of her, always protective.
"What do you mean by that? I never-" Aberforth said, his voice lowering volume, but Albus didn't allow him to continue it.
"SHE IS DEAD ABERFORTH" Albus screamed at the top of his lungs, tugging onto his hair and closing his eyes. "She is dead and you are the only one in this fucking family that can't seem to believe it! She didn't disappear, she is not coming back, she is seven feet under the earth, and she has been for two years, buried right beneath this fucking village! Our mother is dead! And you refuse to accept it because you are a spoiled little boy that can't understand what death really means!"
Albus took a deep breath, stepping backwards and opening his eyes again as he allowed his hands to fall to his sides. As he did, however, the regret was immediate. Aberforth was staring at him with his eyes filled with tears, a frown on his face and his eyebrows furrowed, as if he was holding back from outright sobbing, his hands curled into fists. After a few seconds of silence, he walked towards Albus, slowly, and stood face to face with him, tears sliding down his cheeks.
And then he threw a punch to his face as hard as he could, right on his nose.
"Aberforth!" Ariana screamed from behind him as Albus fell to the ground, groaning and holding his nose. Not for long, however, as Aberforth straddled him and threw another punch on his face, sending his glasses flying off. Albus tried to hold his hands but he was met with another punch that sent his head back onto the floor, and then another that split his lip.
"I hate you" Aberforth growled, giving him another punch, and only then Ariana was able to move, pulling Aberforth away from Albus and holding him to the best of her abilities as he struggled. "I HATE YOU!"
"Aberforth please!" she begged, pulling him for a hug as he began sobbing, leaning into her as she stared back at Albus. He slowly sat up, checking the blood coming out from his nose and lip and then groaning to himself, before looking back at his siblings, the image blurry because of his lack of glasses. He tried to stand up and lost his balance, falling down again and holding himself on his fours as a cough came out of his throat.
"Let's go home" Aberforth mumbled between his tears, holding Ariana close to him and leading her back to the road. She looked back, at Albus, but followed Abe, holding onto his jacket and feeling her own tears falling at the pain in her heart.
"Abe?" Albus asked, his voice hoarse, and looked around at the dark, blurry forest around him. His eyes were now teary, and he felt his heart sinking down to his stomach. "Aberforth? Ariana? Abe? Ari? P-please… I'm sorry!" he called, looking around, slowly standing up by leaning up against a tree. "Aberforth! Ariana!"
The silence responded nothing to him, and he closed his eyes, the sobs coming up to his throat as he covered his face.
He was a mess. He was so so wrong. He was horrible. He slid down the tree and gripped onto his shirt, above his heart, curling up against himself by the tree base.
He hated himself so, so much.
So, so much.