Keeping Albus on the bed while he was sleepy and tired was a breeze. Easier than stealing candy from a child. They checked his temperature, made sure he was quiet, and fed him some soup sometimes while he tried not to fall asleep.
However, in the next day, when he woke up feeling better, keeping him at home was a pain.
"Aberforth, Ariana, for the last time, I feel fine" he said, trying to go through the two teens that kept blocking his way downstairs with their bodies. "Get out of my way, I need to work!"
"Albus, the doctor said at least two days of resting" Ariana said, frowning and jumping to the side as he tried to walk past her.
"And besides, I've already called your work! I told them you would be out for a week!" Aberforth insisted, pushing Albus back into the room. "You are staying and doing exactly what the doctor said."
"You two are impossible!" Albus groaned, looking between the two of them angrily. "Don't you know they discount your vacation from your pay check? If I stay home for a week, it is a week less of money for us!"
"No, because it is not vacation, it is a medical leave approved by the hospital! I even told Grindelwald to go pick up the paper" Aberforth said, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes. "You're not going anywhere Albus Dumbledore!"
"Okay, listen" Albus said, rolling his eyes. "This little game of you two taking care of me was fun and all, but now I feel perfectly fine. Therefore, I do not need to be taken care of anymore. Asides from that, I am older than you, I am your guardian, and therefore I can tell you two to get out of my way and allow me to work."
"Why do you always use this argument against us?" Aberforth asked, frustrated, and then shook his head. "I don't care about that, you're my brother, you are sick and you are staying inside."
"Aberforth, I can't lose a week of money!"
"You should have thought about that before staying the whole night out in the cold!"
"I am fine Aberforth, there is not reason to keep holding me here!"
"You might get a flu. Pneumonia. The doctor told us to keep you inside for two days and then check how you are feeling. So you are staying here, no matter what you say. It's final" Aberforth said, firmly, and Albus took a deep breath, rubbing his eyes underneath his glasses.
"Abe…"
"You have to rest a little Albus! Yesterday you slept so much, you seemed so tired" Ariana said, frowning sadly, and Albus sighed deeply.
"Guys, if I don't go for a week, we don't have enough money to pay the bills by the end of the month" he tried to explain, again, and Ariana shook her head.
"Don't you have some money saved? We can take part of it and use it to pay what we can't because of this week."
"Yes. See? Simple" Aberforth agreed, but Albus looked at them, shaking his head.
"No, that money is not for that…"
"isn't it for emergencies? This is an emergency!" Ariana said, loudly and firmly. Albus shook his head.
"No… not this type of emergency, I can go to work-"
"All emergencies are emergencies Albus" Aberforth insisted, but Albus kept shaking his head.
"No, that's not what it is for…"
"Albus, it is! You are an emergency!"
"Ariana, please, I can-"
"It is settled! That money goes for this week's rest!"
"That not what the money is for!" Albus yelled, suddenly, and the younger siblings stepped back, surprised at his outburst. He groaned, rubbing his face and sighing. "Sorry… sorry… I'm… still a little confused but just… we are not using that money to cover our spences okay?"
"Why not?" Aberforth asked, suspicious. "you said you had been saving it for some type of emergency and now that we have one, you don't want to spend it."
"Albus what is the money for?" Ariana asked, confused and curious at the same time, but Albus didn't look at them. He shook his head and walked past them, rushing downstairs and towards the exit door.
Aberforth and Ariana stood back, looking between the empty hallway and each other, with a simple question inside their minds:
What was the money really for?
Albus was too distracted to see where he was going. Trying to put his jacket on while also checking texts and texting someone all at the same time took off his attention for what was in front of him.
So when he lost his footing in one of the steps to the house, he was sure for a split second in his mind that he was going to fall face first in the snowy ground.
That did not happen, however.
"Holy shit Albus!" Gellert groaned as he held his waist in most awkward position to ever exist, pulling him up and allowing him to get his balance back. "You almost squished me into the ground, look at where you're going!"
"Gellert I'm so sorry" he mumbled nervously, pushing his phone inside his pocket and checking the boy in front of him. "Are you okay? Did I hurt you?!"
"No, you didn't. Don't worry about it" he assured, and then furrowed his eyebrows confused. "What are you doing out here? Weren't you supposed to stay inside for two days?"
"I could ask you the same question. Why are you outside of my house at this time in the morning?" Albus asked, raising his eyebrow. Gellert chuckled and nodded.
"You got me" he said, moving closer, and only then Albus realized that Gellert's arms were still around his waist, not only holding it but pulling him closer, their chest already touching. "Maybe I just wanted to visit…"
"I…" Albus felt a knot inside his throat, his own hands resting over Gellert's arms from when he had checked if he was fine, his whole body reacting to that proximity in very different ways. His cheeks warmed up, his stomach turned and he felt breathless. "I was… going… I…"
"You?" Gellert whispered, eyes moving down Albus' face and returning to his eyes as he tilted his head. Without realizing, Albus was arching his back to get away from Gellert, nerves driving him crazy.
Gellert was so close, and he looked so into it, and everything was so warm and the air seemed inexistent at that moment.
"I need to go" he breathed out, pushing Gellert away and walking past him. As he did, Gellert held his wrist and pulled him back.
"Where?"
"To work."
"You should stay at home and rest."
"I need the money. I can't afford losing a week."
"Yes you can, get inside."
"No" Albus looked back at him and pulled his hand away, shaking his head. "I need to go."
And he walked away, as fast as he could without showing off how much he actually wanted to run away, his heart beating faster than it ever had, his body still shaking from how close he had been with Gellert.
He didn't even want to know why Gellert was there.
No.
He just needed to get away.
"I have a quest for you."
Gellert looked up from his coffee, raising his eyebrow at Aberforth as the boy stood in front of him, arms crossed. Ariana sighed, shaking her head as she separated the frozen soup Bathilda had made them and that Gellert had brought over.
"What quest?" he asked curiously, and Ariana looked at Aberforth.
"Don't. We should just forget it" she warned, taking some soups and heading to the kitchen. Aberforth rolled his eyes and walked closer to Gellert, sitting on the table in front of him.
"My brother has some savings in the bank" he said, and Gellert looked at him, even more curious. "He said it was for emergencies but today, when we told him to use that money to pay for his week off, he denied it. He got actually quite defensive over it. Which made us wonder… if the money really is for emergencies."
"You want me to find out why your brother is saving money?" Gellert asked, chuckling and sipping on his coffee. "I can give you at least five good reasons as to why he would keep money in the bank and wouldn't want to spend it for something as silly as this."
"I don't want reasons I want facts" Aberforth said, pointing to Gellert. "He won't tell us, but maybe he will tell you. I want to know if there is something that he is doing that he isn't telling us."
"Do you think it's something bad?" Gellert asked, and Ariana returned, frowning.
"Albus would never do anything bad, nor hide anything from us. He must have a good motive behind not wanting to use the money. Maybe we were being a little too extreme."
"No, he is hiding something" Aberforth said, furrowing his eyebrows. "I know because of what he said. He didn't say 'we don't have to use it', he didn't say 'we shouldn't because we can't cover it up later', he didn't say 'I would rather not use it to hold for a bigger emergency'. He said 'the money is not for that'. Which means, by definition, that he has an end for that money that he hasn't told us. Or do you really think he would keep it a secret if it was something for my college or your education Ari?"
Ariana blinked slowly, and looked down at the frozen soup before she frowned and looked back at Aberforth.
"You are going to find the answer to that… and you're not going to like it Aberforth" she said, coldly, and picked up some more soup. "Somethings are better left not known. You will regret doing this to Albus."
She walked away after that and Aberforth rolled his eyes, turning back to Gellert.
"Find out what the money is for, and I won't annoy you anymore" he said, and Gellert smirked, lifting his coffee mug.
"Consider it done, little Dumbledore."
"Don't call me that."
"Abe?"
"No."
"Little one?"
"I hate you already."