In the next morning, the house woke up with no sound of alarms, no smell of pancakes and eggs, with no steps along the halls. The house woke up silent, dead silent, unlike it had been for a long, long time.

The knock came shy and quiet from Aberforth's door, and he pulled the sheets closer to himself, hugging them. Despite of being awake, he did not answer, looking at the wall in front of him.

The knock sounded again, and he remained quiet.

"Aberforth?" came Ariana's soft voice, and he sighed, rubbing his eyes and turning around on the bed. "I know you are there... and awake... I need to talk to you."

"Come in" he said, against his will, and kept his eyes on the wall as she came inside. Slowly, she walked towards his bed and sat on it, silent. He remained quiet as well. Neither of them wanted to talk.

So they didn't, until the silence grew too uncomfortable.

"Aberforth, Albus didn't come home last night."

He tensed up slightly, but pretended not to care, remaining in his position with Ariana behind his back.

"Good. I didn't want to look at his face today" he said, coldly, and she sighed, shaking her head.

"Aberforth, he didn't come home. He is nowhere inside this house. Doesn't that worry you? Not even a little bit?"

"He is an adult that can do exactly what he wants to do" he answered, beginning to become angry. "Besides, how do you know he didn't just come and left before you woke up?"

"I couldn't sleep last night Aberforth, and I can bet you didn't either" Ariana responded, her voice clearly angry, but then she sighed and put her hand on his shoulder. "Abe please... Albus has never spent a night out since... two years ago. He has never let us alone, even if he came too late and left too early. I am worried about him."

"Maybe he just didn't want to come back home. I wouldn't blame him" Aberforth mumbled, but the worry was beginning to bother his heart. She sighed and squeezed his shoulder.

"Please turn to face me?"

He sighed, and waited a few seconds before slowly rolling around on the bed. He faced her, and she faced him right back, both with their eyes puffy and with light bags underneath. Neither had slept that night, and they had only stopped crying very recently.

"Have you tried to call his friends?" Abe asked, slowly sitting up and fixing himself on the bed. "McGonagall, his manager? Cam? Maybe... maybe he even went back to Bathilda's. We don't fucking know"

"Don't get angry if he did Aberforth" Ariana said, firmly, and he shut up immediately. "I didn't call anyone. Lets try that."

"Do you have their numbers?"

"No..."

"Leave it to me then. Go downstairs and call Bagshot. He is probably in someone's house."

Ariana nodded and stood up, rushing to the first floor while Aberforth reached for his cellphone and began calling to Albus' friends and work place.

"Anything?"

"Nothing" Aberforth sighed, standing up and gathering his clothes after he threw his phone on the bed. "All of them said they only saw Albus yesterday... did you have any luck?"

"No, Bathilda said he is nowhere in her house" she sighed, and crossed her arms as she watched Aberforth change. "I... I am really worried now Abe, where... where could he be?"

"I have no idea Ari, but we will find out. Even if it is the last thing I do" Aberforth said, grabbing his coat and giving her a warm fuzzy jacket to dress. "And when we find him, I will be sure to give him another punch on the face so he doesn't worry us again, ever."

"You two shouldn't have fought yesterday" Ariana said, following Aberforth down the stairs and towards the front door. "That was completely unnecessary and irresponsible!"

"You tell that to him when we find him Ari, we have a lot of ground to cover."

She frowned at him, but stayed quiet, running after her brother as he began to walk faster towards the path to Bathilda's house.

"Albus?"

"Albus!"

Aberforth groaned, looking around the snowy streets while rubbing his hands together.

"It wasn't this cold last night" he mumbled, looking up at the grey sky above. Ariana nodded, moving closer to him and rubbing her own arms. "Where the fuck is Albus? For god's sake..."

"Why don't we check by the river? Around where you guys fought?" she suggested, looking at the little path towards the small arborized area. Aberforth frowned but then took her hand and began walking towards it.

"I swear to my life that if he spent the night in the cold, I will kill him" he huffed, making his way around the trees to reach the clearing where they had fought. "Albus!"

"Albus!"

"Dumbledore!"

They stopped, looking around at the voice coming from the middle of the trees. Aberforth stood in front of Ariana, and she looked over his shoulder, trying to find the source of the voice.

Suddenly, none other than Gellert Grindelwald showed up from behind a big tree.

"Grindelwald?" Aberforth asked, anger already boiling inside his body. Ariana looked at the blond, surprised.

"Gellert?"

"Ariana. Aberforth" he said upon seeing them, walking closer while looking around.

"What are you doing here?" Aberforth asked, suspicious and lacking a single drop of patience. Ariana sighed, but said nothing. Grindelwald raised his eyebrow and stopped in front of the siblings.

"Well, when you called to my aunt asking if Albus had spent the night, I guessed he wasn't with you two" he said, looking between the two Dumbledores. "So I decided to look around for him. And apparently, I was correct, since both of you are here as well."

"We don't need-"

"The more, the merrier" Ariana cut Aberforth off, walking to Gellert and taking his hand. "Please help. I am growing extremely worried!"

"Of course."

Aberforth and Grindelwald looked at each other for a few seconds, before the redhead rolled his eyes and wondered off into the woods, looking around for his brother. Ariana did the same, followed by Grindelwald, the three of them roughly in the same area but checking different places. They kept calling out for Albus, to no avail. No one was answering.

After almost one hour looking, they met again, the three of them tired and cold.

"He's not here" Ariana mumbled, hugging Aberforth's waist and nuzzling against his side. He sighed, and gave another look around. Now, they were way closer to the little river that made its way down the village. Grindelwald narrowed his eyes and gave another look around.

That was when, a few meters forward, he saw someone sitting by the river, on some rocks.

"There" he said, nodding, and both Ariana and Aberforth turned around quickly, running towards the person and being followed by Grindelwald. As they approached, the red hair was impossible not to recognize.

"Albus!" Ariana yelled, running to her brother and stopping right next to him. He didn't respond, he didn't even more. "Albus?"

"What's wrong?" Aberforth asked, stopping by the other side and touching his shoulder. "Albus?!"

Grindelwald walked in front of him and frowned at his curled up position. With gentle moves, he pulled Albus' arms away from where they were hugging his knees and tried to lift his head up. As he touched his chin, however, he pulled his hand away.

"He is freezing cold" he whispered, and touched his chin again, lifting his face and making both Ariana and Aberforth gasp.

Albus' face was a strange pale, almost grey, and his lips were almost blue. Upon being moved, he shivered uncontrollably and his eyes closed as he whimpered, trembling from head to toe.

"What happened?" Ariana whispered, her voice shaking, and Grindelwald frowned deeply.

"He spent the whole night out here. He is hypothermic" he explained, and then began removing his coat. "Take your coats out, we need to warm him up."

"Wh-why? What? Can't-can't we take him home? Put him in a warm bath, something like that?" Aberforth asked, his voice shaking, his hands trembling as he pulled his coat off. Ariana did the same, the three of them wrapping Albus around their warm jackets.

"No. You are going to call an ambulance. We need to warm him up slowly, or else he might get even worst" Gellert said, nodding for Aberforth to call and then noticing Albus closing his eyes. "Albus, look at me."

He looked up slowly, eyelids barely opening, and Gellert relaxed a little.

"Can you say anything? Try saying something."

Albus looked at him silently while Aberforth paced around nervously, waiting for the hospital to pick up. Ariana then kneeled next to Gellert and took Albus' hands on her own, trying to warm him up.

After a long while, Albus opened his mouth.

"c… c… col… cold…" he mumbled, his voice barely above a whisper, and Gellert nodded, placing his hands gently one on Albus' neck and another on his cheek, to warm him up. The eldest Dumbledore closed his eyes, leaning on the warmth and letting out a shaky breath.

"He will be fine" Gellert assured, smiling to Ariana. "He might get a flu or pneumonia but other than that, he will be fine. The doctors will probably want him to stay at home for a few days, though."

"No problem, we will take care of him" she assured and Aberforth returned, sitting next to Albus and looking at the others.

"The ambulance is coming… god damn it, I can't believe he spent the whole night in the cold" he groaned, looking at his older brother and feeling the frustration building up. "You're such an idiot Albus I swear…"

"May I ask why he spent the night here?" Gellert asked, but Aberforth immediately looked at him angrily.

"None of your concern."

"Alright" he nodded and hummed. "If you two want to be of any help, hugging him might warm him up as well."

"Yes!" Ariana squealed and pulled Albus into a hug, nuzzling against his cold hair. "I love you. You will be okay" she mumbled, all while Aberforth looked between Albus and Grindelwald.

"I promise I won't say anything about it."

Aberforth relaxed a bit at the older boy's comment and moved closer, wrapping his arms around Albus' waist and nuzzling against his shoulder. He stayed quiet, hiding his face away as guilt made his eyes tear up.

They stayed like that until the ambulance approached. Gellert stood up, running to the street and guiding the paramedics to the location but warning them that the situation was mostly controlled. As they arrived, they took Albus towards the ambulance, and one nurse looked at the three of them.

"Who is coming with us?" she asked, and Aberforth immediately stepped forward.

"I…" he then stopped, looking back at Ariana and Gellert. The blond boy raised an eyebrow while his sister smiled and waved.

"Go. I will be okay. We will be right behind you" she assured, and Aberforth bit his lip before nodding and running after the nurse towards the ambulance.

As soon as it drove off, Ariana let out a sigh and looked up at Gellert, who was still watching the car go away.

She poked his arm, and he looked down.

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

Gellert chuckled and shook his head.

"You don't have to thank me, lady Dumbledore" he said, pushing his hands inside his pants pockets. "I just did what anyone would do."

"You like my brother, don't you?" she asked, curiously, and he looked up once more, face expressionless.

"It depends on what liking means to you" he said, eyes up at the grey sky, and Ariana sighed, crossing her arms.

"I've never seen him look at anyone like he looks at you."

Gellert looked down at her, and she smiled weakly back at him, shrugging.

After a moment of silent, Gellert looked away again.

"We should go. Come on, I will get my aunt's car and take you to the hospital" he said, nodding and making his way back to her house. Ariana followed right behind, nodding and smiling to herself.