July 21st, 1898.
Laying in the grassy fields outside the cottage, Ariana slowly mended her dress that had been damaged in her inner demon's last outburst. She had been avoiding Gellert for weeks, her mind clouded with mixed feelings about his intentions. Having hoped that her distress around the situation would go away, she was unpleasantly met with even more stress that continued to put that thing inside of her on edge. Which is why he dress was now torn and the basement was now destroyed.
She felt a great sense of relief when Albus took the 'no-magic' spell off the basement, but she found banging into the stone walls as her Obscurus burst out of control... rather painful. Although that thing was no longer torturing her, while trying to escape her body, she found that as a consequence of letting it out resulted in bruises littering up her body as the days went by.
Her brother's had noticed her Obscurus playing up more often as well. In fact, when Ariana wouldn't calm down one night, Albus had threatened to lock her in the basement - leaving her there until 'that thing' stopped playing up. Albus, however, soon faced the bitch that is karma - a rather nasty black eye from being attacked by the supernatural force. Unbeknownst to her, Gellert had caught Albus trying to hide the injury and had decided that he'd had enough of Ariana ignoring him.
So here he stood, unsure of his next move as he watched Ariana sewing something in the meadow. Would she agree with anything he says? It was then that Ariana noticed a shadow approaching her, causing her head to whip around in fright as her brother's best friend halted in front of her.
"Gellert, why is it you sneak up on me?" she questioned, putting her ripped dress aside.
"Apologies for frightening you, Ariana, it was certainly not my intention."
He sat down beside her on the dry grass, twisting a piece of long grass in his fingers as an awkward silence filled the air.
"Well?" asked Ariana, annoyed, wishing the handsome young man hadn't come and found her.
"You have been avoiding me, Ariana," he stated, turning his gaze towards her.
She didn't respond for quite some time.
"Tell me, Gellert, did you convince my brother to take the magic-less spell off the cellar so I could be free or so you could win my trust and use my power for your devious little plans you and Albus have made together?"
He had been taken aback at her harshness, but found himself speechless to the question. In truth, he didn't know himself what his intentions regarding Ariana were anymore. Which of the two intentions she said was the truth?
"I don't know, Ariana, I don't know. But I do not see you as an object - I'm not that low," he responded.
"If you don't see me as an object, then what on earth do I mean to you? All I should ever be and have been is your friend's little sister."
"I know Ariana. But, unfortunately, both you and I have developed... something that should've never happened in the first place," he snapped back, frustration rising up within him.
"And who's fault is that Gellert?"
"Both of our faults, Ariana - as much as you'd like to deny that. We are both rather stubborn in denial."
She didn't respond after that, letting an awkward silence fill the air as they sat in the long grass, Ariana's stitching abandoned as she began to fiddle with the grass.
"What's it like?" she asked Gellert, "What's the outside world like?"
"Well, it depends, where have you been other than here in Godric's Hollow?"
"Well, before father was taken to prison, we lived in a place called Mould-On-The-Wold, but I was so young I can barely remember the place. So other than that, I've never left Godric's -"
"You've never left this place?"
"Yes, that's -"
"But this place is so boring! Have you never been to Hogsmede or the Ministry? You must've been to Diagon Alley at least!"
"Not that I can remember..." she muttered sheepishly as he stared at her in disbelief, "most people live and die in the same corner of the world anyway!"
"But I don't want you to be most people, Ariana!"
"Well, it's not like I can do anything about it, my brother's control me!" she snapped, glaring daggers at him while he tried to press his point.
"Well, perhaps you should stop letting them control them and do something with your life!"
"It's not like I know how to get anywhere!" she exclaimed, teeth clenched in frustration at his insistence.
"But I do."
She rolled her eyes at his naivety, laughing to herself at how ridiculous his proposal seemed and how impossible it was.
"The day Albus and Aberforth let you take me anywhere is the day the sky falls on our heads."
"Who said we had to tell them?"
The bright sun glared rays onto her face, awakening her from her slumber. She groaned, reaching towards the curtains, trying to close the curtains to grant her another hour of sleep.
Today was the day.
She had no idea where Gellert was taking her, due to his insistence that it must be a surprise or she wouldn't enjoy it as much as he wanted her too. Aberforth, conveniently, was spending the day at Hogsmede with his friends and Albus had something money-related to attend at the Ministry, so she would be free of her brother's overprotective watch and capable of sneaking off with Gellert for the day. To say she was excited was an understatement.
He mentioned to dress lightly, but bring a warm piece of clothing incase there was an unexpected breeze and for some reason, she might need a spare change of clothes. What for? She couldn't guess.
So, as she prepared herself for the day, she filled a basket with all that was needed, along with a few books that might be able to free her of boredom if she was faced with any. Now, she was waiting for him in the kitchen, sipping her morning cup of tea and relishing in the freedom she had been granted with her brother's out of the house.
It wasn't long before she heard a loud crack, making her jump in surprise as Gellert appeared less than a foot in front of her.
"Are you ready for the surprise?"
"Are you going to tell me what it is?" she responded, grabbing her basket and standing up, their faces only inches away from each other.
"No, I'm going to show you."
He grabbed her palm quickly and suddenly, her insides felt like twisting and turning in and out, their surroundings disappearing as they mushed up like a disgusting smoothie until what felt like hours, but was only seconds later, they landed on a soft squishy substance beneath their feet, large cliffs surrounding them with small rippling water crashing onto the land.
"Ever been to a beach before, Ari?"
Her eyes widened into saucers as she admired the surroundings, which she had only seen in old family photographs from before she could remember. The cliffs towered high above them, with an odd colour of pearly white coating them. The sand was a dark colour, covered in rocks and shells that were slowly being swallowed by the sea.
"Where are we?" she asked in awe.
"This place, Ari, is most commonly known as the White Cliffs of Dover."
It was only then she noticed a large picnic blanket, adorned with delicious fruits, sweets and savouries for them to devour. Thankfully, there was no wind and the sun was scorching the earth from the heavens - something that happened once in a blue moon in this part of England.
"I must say, this was very unexpected," she said, as they settle down on the blanket and started in on some sandwiches.
"Well, I thought perhaps you should see the beauty of the natural world, before we enter the Wizarding World. Sometimes, us wizards seem to forget that not everything was built by magic."
"I never took you for a philosopher, Gellert Grindelwald. Nor did I expect to hear anything that doesn't portray the wizarding race as somewhat superior to muggles come out of your lips."
"Don't misinterpret me, Ariana, for the natural world and the muggle world are two vastly different things."
"But if you believe in the natural world, you must believe to some extent the muggle art of science then," she responded.
"I admit, the muggles have certainly made do without magic, despite their inferiority. Although, their social class system - particularly in this country - is absolutely pathetic."
"How hypocritical of you, Gellert, when you rank the magical abilities of some humans as superior to those with the inability to perform magic," she said, cleaning off the last of the sandwiches and moving onto what looked like a custard tart.
"Yes, but within our world we do not have the discrimination of racism, nobility and riches," he argued in return.
"What utter bullshit, Gellert!" she exclaimed, with Gellert been so stunned by her crude language he couldn't respond before she began her well deserved rant at him.
"You say there is no racism, nobility and social classes in the wizarding world, yet the Pureblood families roll around in their riches, getting treated like royalty and smothered with compliments while they spit on the muggle-borns. I may not have been to the Wizarding World, but I've certainly read enough to know you are living under a rock to make such invalid comments about an issue we face just as much as the muggle world does. I want you to listen to me Gellert, and listen to me carefully because I do not want to say it again: you are not born with hatred, you are taught hatred. We all bleed the same colour."
It was then the conversation ended, despite Gellert rolling his eyes and not taking in anything that Ariana had said to him. After many long minutes of awkward silence as they finished the food, Ariana remember her basket she had put aside.
"Why did you tell me to bring a spare change of clothes?"
"Because we're going for a swim and I know how much you hate it when people 'show off' their magic, so I supposed you'd rather not be magic-dried by me."
"But the water must be freezing! This isn't one of those hot tropical colonies like India or Australia Gellert!"
But, Gellert had ignored her protests and stood up on the sand, taking off his books and shirt until he was left in nothing but his breaches, charging down to the water and diving in, leaving a younger Ariana scandalised at the sight. He just undressed in front of me! Her thoughts were a little more excited than appalled than she wanted them to be.
"Well," he said, rising up from the surface, displaying his toned chest and muscular arms, "are you going to come in?"
She reluctantly pulled her cardigan, unnecessary clothing and shoes off - but never exposing any inappropriate amount of skin, before slowly walking to the water's edge, where little waves crashed onto the sad, her feet suddenly feeling the stinging shock from the icy cold water. She quickly walked back a few steps, avoiding giving her feet anymore hard suffering.
"It's too cold!" she exclaimed to Gellert, who was now at least five metres out, lying on his back in the water.
"Oh, don't be such a spoil sport, Ari!" he shouted back amused, approaching her with his gorgeous figure on full display as he exited the water, dangerously dazzling blue eyes staring at her, as he approached her slowly.
"Is Ariana Dumbledore scared of a little bit of water?" he taunted, failing to notice the young girl so blatantly running her eyes over his beautiful figure.
"It's absolutely freez - GELLERT!"
He picked her up around the waist and under her knees, running quickly into the water where he quickly threw her into the shallows, engulfing her body in water.
Oh, you've got it coming now Gellert Grindelwald.
Apologies for the delay, I've only just got out of a terrible month of writer's block.
After the events that happened a few days ago in Manchester at the Ariana Grande concert, I would just like to mention that eventually in the future, once I've got all my current projects done, I will be writing some sort of novel that will have something to do with them and the current terrorist events currently going on in the world. Eventually I will also want to write a book about a Syrian Refugee, but I'd like that one to be a true story therefore it will have to wait a few years for me to find the time and money to do something like that.
Please vote and comment your thoughts!
Once again, sorry for the delay!
- Emma