Disclaimer: I don't own any of the 'Harry Potter' characters, ideas, etc.
A/N:Hey! This is my first fic for HP, I hope you like it! I've always found Dumbledore and his family such interesting and intricate characters, and so this was a story I really wanted to fill in a bit deeper. I LOVE reviews, so please feel free to leave any comments afterwards. Thanks for reading!!
Aberforth Dumbledore lay in his bed, tossing and turning as he tried to fall asleep over his brother's voice down in the kitchen. It was a hot and muggy summer night, and his blankets were wrapped around his legs and stuck to his back. The more he tried to force himself to sleep, the more tangled he seemed to get, until, every so often, he would sit and fluff his sheets up before lying back down to start the cycle once again.
As he became less and less convinced that sleep would ever come, he began to allow his ears to hear snippets of what was being said downstairs. Albus was saying something about a stone, though Aberforth couldn't quite make out the exact words. Then a deeper voice, an accented voice, one that Aberforth hated so much, replied; it was the voice of Gellert Grindelwald, Albus's new friend. Gellert had appeared in Godric's Hollow two month prior to stay with his aunt. He and Albus had immediately taken to one another, so much so that hardly a night went by when Aberforth didn't fall asleep to their conversation downstairs; they never bothered to keep their voices down. Most of the time they spoke without hesitation around him, maybe because they thought he wasn't smart enough to understand what they were talking about. But he was; Aberforth wasn't a genius like his brother was so often coined, nor was he as clever and cunning as Gellert, but he was no troll. He could piece together what they were talking about. They, like many other wizards, believed in Beedle the Bard's fabled deathly hallows. Perhaps because they fancied themselves to be more intelligent, or perhaps because they vowed to work together to link the supposed long-lost hallows, they thought they would be the ones to unite them. And then, power would be theirs.
Even while these thoughts passed bitterly through Aberforth's head, he could overhear Albus downstairs saying, "...be difficult, but for the greater good, I think..." For the greater good. Aberforth hated that phrase. It was a line created by his ever-so-wonderful brother to cover his guilt and disguise their power hungry, manipulative schemes. Grindelwald adopted the "greater good" philosophy as well, although as Aberforth saw it, he saw it as merely a catch-phrase, if that - sometimes he treated it like a punch-line, smirking ever-so-slightly after he said it. A sixteen-year-old wizarding prodigy thrown out of Durmstrang School for his obsession with the most twisted of Dark Arts, Gellert Grindelwald needed nothing to ease guilt, for he carried none. Albus, though a year older, admired Gellert like he had no one else, hanging on his every foresight or notion, and bowing to his beliefs and ideas. It disgusted and angered Aberforth that his brother, the brilliant Albus Dumbledore, couldn't see Gellert's lies and evil thinking. But then, Albus wasn't always a proponent of the truth himself, though with his euphemistic, "For the greater good," he would brush his own manipulations under the rug. People seemed to listen to Albus almost the same way he listened to Gellert, so maybe it was a reflection on the naivety of witches and wizards.
Aberforth's eyelids snapped up as he heard his bedroom door creak open. Gentle footstep padded towards his bed, and he smiled, knowing who it was. He sat up and smiled at his little sister, who was standing before him, her bright blue eyes looking at him with a serene blankness the way only they could.
"You okay, Ariana?" he asked softly, sliding over on his bed and patting beside himself the on the mattress, motioning for her to sit down.
She sat, her blonde hair, still smooth from when he had brushed it before putting her to bed, brushing over his arm as she did so. Her eyes wondered unintentionally around the room, unable to focus on him. "Too loud," she said, pointing down at the floor to imply that she was talking about Albus and Gellert.
"I know," Aberforth said. "I couldn't sleep either." He patted her back gently on the back, knowing what would help her. "I'll get you some warm pumpkin juice, okay? Do you want to come downstairs with me?"
She nodded, and the two siblings slid off the bed. While they slowly walked down the steep stairs, the voices of Albus and Gellert grew clearer and louder, and Aberforth could make out exactly what they were saying.
"It does not matter if vee do not know vere zee cloak is," said Gellert, ever-composed and authoritative. "We have an approximate location on zee stone, and zat is a perfectly fine place to start."
As Aberforth and Ariana walked into the kitchen, Albus gave the a quick, distracted smile, then turned back to Gellert, who ignored them both as usual. "Of course, I agree," Albus said, nodding. "My only fear is that once we depart, the current owner of the cloak may become aware of us, and it may make it harder for us to track him down later. We will need to use extreme caution to remain inconspicuous."
Aberforth paused at these words, his hand stopping on the kitchen cabinet. "'Once we depart?'" He said, withdrawing a mug and spinning to face Albus. "What does that mean?"
Albus's eyes flickered to Gellert before he answered his younger brother. "Gellert and I are planning to try and locate some certain items we believe will be useful to our cause," he said, speaking slowly as he chose his words carefully.
"I know what you're doing," Aberforth snapped, pouring pumpkin juice into the mug. His mind was still very aware of Ariana, who was standing in the door, looking from him, to Albus, to Gellert, wringing her pale hands nervously. He took a deep breath to calm his voice; he couldn't let his sister get upset, that would only make matters worse. "You two are looking for the Deathly Hallows." When neither of them made any indication that they intended to reply, Albus followed up with, "Aren't you?"
"That is correct," Albus said, nodding.
"Right," Aberforth said, looking up at the ceiling as he tried to control his temper. "And when were you planning to go look for them? I leave for Hogwarts in two weeks."
Albus once again averted his gaze, this time his eyes passing over Ariana, whose eyes, bright and blue just like his, looked straight at him, something she didn't frequently do. "We planned to leave in three weeks," he said quietly.
Aberforth slammed the pitcher down on the table so hard that pumpkin juice splashed up onto his arm. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ariana give a little jump and the curtains on the window next to her jolted in an almost warning ripple, no doubt a bit of involuntary magic set off by her sudden fear. Aberforth murmered silently under his breath to himself, then turned and planted the mug of pumpkin juice on the table in front of Albus, who, having done this many times before, flicked his wand, and the juice immediately began to steam. He picked it up and held it out to Ariana, who stepped timidly forward, her thin, shaking arm outstretched. Once she had it in her hands, Aberforth placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Ariana, why don't you take that upstairs?" he said, in what even he could tell was a very forcedly calm voice. 'I'll come up in a couple minutes, okay?"
She looked at him for a second, shifting her weight from one foot to another uncomfortably. Her eyes slid over to Gellert, who was rotating his wand between his fingers, his eyes fixed on Aberforth. Ariana looked back at her brother, concern in her unfocused blue eyes. He gave her a reassuring smile and repeated, "I'll be up soon. Go on."
"Good night, Ariana" Albus said, placing a hand on her elbow and giving her a gentle nudge towards to door. With one last look at Aberforth, she said, in her airy, still young-sounding though she was nearly fifteen voice, "'Night." And she slowly sauntered to the door, her little feet barely making a sound as they went across the wood.
As soon as Ariana had disappeared through the kitchen door, Aberforth rounded on Albus once again. "I need to talk to you alone," he spat, throwing Gellert a malevolent look.
Before Albus could answer, Gellert's eyebrows raised. "Vat vould you say to him zat you vould not have me hear?" he said, his tone full of contempt.
"I can think of a few things," Aberforth bristled, not looking at Gellert.
"Aberforth, you can say whatever it is you have to say to me in front of Gellert," Albus said, his palms rolling up to face the ceiling as if welcoming anything Aberforth could throw at him.
"Fine then," he growled, and he could feel his face beginning to burn red with anger. "What exactly do you plan to do with Ariana while you two are gallivanting about search for these bloody hallows?"
"Ariana will of course be coming with us," Albus replied. "She is in no state to stay here alone, or with someone e -."
"Damn right she's not!" Aberforth interrupted furiously. "You can't drag her around with you like she's a traveling cloak; she needs care, and attention, and safety, and she can only have that at home."
"Ve have thought zis through," Gellert said, and he had an air of irritation and finality in his tone that Aberforth had never heard before.
"That's a lie!" Aberforth barked, pounding his fist down on the table. "If you ruddy well had, you'd realize it was a stupid idea!"
Gellert got swiftly to his feet, his wand snapping out in front of him in a millisecond. Before Gellert could point it at directly at Aberforth, however, the latter also had his wand drawn. The two young men stood face-to-face for several seconds before Albus also got to his feet. "Aberforth, put your wand away and sit down, please," he said, raising his hands between them.
"It's always 'Aberforth, stop', or 'Aberforth please!" Aberforth bellowed, sparks shooting involuntarily out of the tip of his wand. "I'm sick of it! And I'm sick of him!" He jabbed his wand toward Gellert, who made no motion of fear or retraction, but only set his jaw more firmly. "Ever since he got here, all you care about is him, and your stupid plans and adventures, and your ridiculous hallows. I knew you shouldn't have been the one to stay with Ariana, you're too selfish! You don't care about her at all."
"That's not true," Albus said softly.
"Oh yes it is," Aberforth spat, his wand still straight out in front of him. He kept it pointed at Gellert, but began stepping towards Albus until he was merely inches from his older brother's crooked nose. "I don't care what twisted ideas you've got about looking for these fairy-tale hallows," he hissed. "You have to stay here and take care of Ariana."
"You do not know vat you are talking about, idiot boy," Gellert snapped, and Aberforth whipped his head around too glare at him. "Zees hallows are -."
"I don't give a flaming damn about your hallows or your power-hungry plan!" Aberforth cut in, and without warning, shouted, "Stupi-"
"Crucio!" Gellert had beaten him to it. Aberforth crumpled to the ground with a yell and writhed on the ground. Gellert's eyes focused deeply on his flailing figure, wand still directly aimed at his chest.
Albus's wand was drawn in a flash, and with a quick wave, Gellert's wand flew out of his hand and Aberforth's violently quaking body fell suddenly limp. He moaned as Albus reached down and pulled him to his feet. "There is no need for spells like that, Gellert," Albus said firmly as Grindelwald retrieved his fallen wand, venom in his eyes.
"Are you on hees side now, Albus?" Gellert hissed, poking his wand at Aberforth, who was panting, supporting himself against the kitchen table.
"There need not be sides, Gellert, if he will only understand," Albus said. He hadn't returned his wand to his robes yet, and his grip on it was still tight and secure.
"He vill not understand," Gellert snapped. "He cannot understand vat even our brilliant minds can barely grasp."
They could hear footsteps now coming down the stairs, and seconds later, Ariana appeared in the doorway, trembling, pumpkin juice still in her hands. Some had spilled and splattered on her dress as she had run down the stairs when she heard Aberforth's cry as he was hexed. Aberforth shakily pulled himself up, turning his still burning head to look at his sister. "It's okay, Ariana," he reassured her, though his voice was shaky and rough. "Go ups-STOP!". Barely visible to his left, he had just caught sight of Gellert, who had suddenly turned his wand so the tip was aimed at Ariana. Aberforth's wand was still on the ground from when he had collapsed, out of his reach.
"Impedimenta!" Whatever curse Gellert had shot at Ariana collided with Albus's impediment jinx and burst into a bright purple explosion, causing Ariana to scream. Aberforth pulled himself away from the table snatched his own wand off the ground, spinning around and slashing his wand through the air, sending a stream of flames at Gellert. The flames rebounded on an invisible shield several feet from him and instead set fire to a nearby chair. Another jinx flew through the air, this one sent by Albus, and though it narrowly missed Gellert, Aberforth wondered if it was meant for him instead.
"Expel -" before Aberfroth could finish, a cabinet behind Grindelwald banged open and then closed again, though none of the boys had shot a spell towards it.
"Ariana, no!" Alberforth said pleading at his sister. Her hair was waving around her face, and her nightdress was blowing forwards as though a strong wind was coming from behind her. Her hands shook in front of her and she was crying. A vase between Aberforth and Grindelwald exploded; she was trying to curse Gellert, yet she couldn't control her magic. Aberforth realized that he had to end this before they all ended up dead just like his mother. His wand pointing straight at Grindelwald, he shouted, "Petrificus Totalus!". He wasn't the only one to send a curse at that moment. It all happed at once, very fast. His jinx met with a flash of yellow from Albus and a red bolt from Gellert somewhere in between the three of them. Whatever they had been (both Albus's and Gellerts had been non-verbal and so Aberforth couldn't tell), they didn't react quite like other spells when mixed. Instead of exploding or disappearing as was what usually happened, they multiplied, shooting off in different directions. Aberforth was just able to stop a strand of his own silvery spell from hitting him. He turned to find his sister and shield her from whatever might have come her way, but at the very moment that his eyes found her, she was blasted backwards, soaring through the air until she crashed into the wall behind her. She seemed to be suspended, stuck against it for a couple horrific seconds before her drooping body finally slid down the the ground. As the last of the spells flying around began to fade, Aberforth, Albus, and Gellert all stared, mouthes open in shock, at Ariana's lifeless body. The walls around them could have been caving in and the three dumbstruck boys wouldn't have been able to move. Aberforth was the first to break the silence. With something between a choke and a muffled cry, he bolted across the room to his little sister and knelt beside her, lifting her shoulders off the ground and putting a hand to her kneck in a final, desperate hope, though he knew he would find no pulse. Albus was sitting beside him now, his hands clapped across his mouth, his eyes dripping down his nose and onto the sleeve of Ariana's dress.
Even above his anguished wails, Aberforth didn't miss the footsteps pounding out of the kitchen. He turned his tear-stained face in time to see Gellert bursting out the front door. "MURDERER!" he cried, scooping up his wand and pushing himself onto his feet. He tore off after Gellert, revenge his only intention. He leaped into the air as he exited the house, clearing the front steps and hitting the ground at a run. He shot stunning spell after stunning spell in all different directions, not able to aim or focus with the pain and fury pounding in his head. Finally, Gellert slowed, and Aberforth jumped on what he knew would be his last opportunity.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" he bellowed for the first time in his life. The force of the killing curse soaring out of his wand knocked him down onto the damp grass as a green light shot out in front of him. Gellert knew it was coming, and seconds before it reached him, he turned on the spot, and with a pop had disapperated to safety. Aberforth, his chest heaving, jumped to his feet and stared at the spot from which Gellert had vanished. He wanted to hunt him down and kill him, just like he had killed Ariana. As he realized there was no chance of finding Gellert now, he turned, defeated, to return to the house, blinded by his tears. He didn't even know if it had been Gellert who had sent the jinx that actually killed her; it could have been Albus. Or, worse, it could have been him. Aberforth stumbled over the threshold and barely made it to Ariana's side before he collapsed to his knees. His precious, beautiful, special sister was dead, and it may have been because of him. He looked into her face, its blank expression serene, her eyelids wide open. As he stared into her formerly vibrant eyes, they began to fade away to the color of the sky on a stormy morning. Those faded blue eyes would haunt him till the day he died.