Chapter 27
Ariana walked back up to the castle. The weekend was over. She felt heavy hearted. She and Aberforth may have cleared the air but it didn't seem to make the guilt she felt for her actions go away. When she got to school she still had to try and face Albus. If Aberforth had got so angry with her then Albus was going to be furious. She knew it would be pointless just to not go to his lesson. That would be the worse thing she could do. She also had to see Harry. She wondered if he was going to be angry with her as well.
It really was one of those days when she should have just stayed in bed.
Going up to the dorm room she put her bag down on the bed. It was deserted. They had no doubt all gone down to breakfast to get on with the week. No one was there but her. Laying back she wished she could just go back to sleep. Just lay there…
But that would solve nothing.
She had to get through the day. Getting her things together she was going to need for the her lessons she solemnly walked out of the tower and straight up to her brothers office. She didn't want to ho down to breakfast. Even if she had been hungry that day she could not have faced it with everything hanging over her.
When she got there, she found Albus waiting for her.
"Your not at breakfast." she said to him. She had been expecting to find the office empty.
"Neither are you sweet. Do you want some tea." he asked.
She nodded.
"Are you mad with me?" she asked him. If he was she would rather get it out of the way.
"No why on earth would I be mad at you?" he asked her.
"Didn't Aberforth tell you what I tried to do at the weekend?" she said to him shrugging.
"Oh that," he said to her shrugging. Her minor indiscretion. He had seen it coming. "Aberforth said he had words with you about I already." he said to her.
"Yeah he did." she said thinking back to Saturday night and sighing unhappily. It had quite possibly been the worse night she had had since her return.
"Well I don't think it would be a good idea that I did as well. Besides when it comes to you I never get to play good Auror. I'm always bad." he said to her.
She smiled. That had been what there parents had said to one another when telling them off, 'would you like to be good Auror of bad Auror?'
She grinned.
"There, that's better. A frown doesn't suit you sister." he told her.
He conjured up the drinks.
She had thought he was going to be furious. But he was actually being cool about the whole thing.
He understood.
"I think at your age I would have done the same thing." he admitted to her. He hadn't been one to be left out. The rest of the school were enjoying something she was being excluded from. He knew the reason for this were good ones but it didn't make it easier on her.
Of course their mother would have been far more serve than either of the brothers had been with her. Lying had not till her accident been allowed in the Dumbledore Household. Then it had ruled there lives and Albus had longed for the olds days back.
"Your trying to find your way and you are going to make mistakes of your own. As long as you understand why they were wrong when you look back that is all that matters!" he advised her as he looked across his desk at her. His eyes were kind and gentle as he looked at her and she was overwhelmed by him at that moment.
If she said her view of him had not been changed of him by Hogwarts she knew she we would be lying.. She saw him as a brother and a wise man now. He was great as Harry, Hermione and Ron had told her more than once. He had been there and he had done something with his life since she had been gone. It wasn't hard to see when he stood at the top of the hall in his almost majestic robes why so many admired and so many hated him. He had been successful in many respects and he had fulfilled every dream their mother had had for him.
"Thank you brother." she said to him.
He had told her what she had needed to hear. What she had wanted to hear…
"You're just finding your way Ariana. Learn lessons from your mistakes, don't maker them again and you'll go far."
#
It was later in the day in the library when Harry caught up with her. She had been studying when she had saw a shadow fall over her work and she had known instinctively it was him. He had been searching for her for most of the day but till then he hadn't been successful in finding her.
She looked up.
Ariana had wondered all day if he was angry with her. She was about to find out.
"Are you alright." she asked him.
He nodded. "Are you?"
"Yeah."
There had never been such a awkward moment between the two. Ariana couldn't stand it. He was the only one she felt she had connected with in her year really.
"I did try to get there." she said to him. She just hadn't managed it. She knew he would have and she suddenly felt a new wave of shame come over her. This time it was not for trying to get out. It was for trying to get out and not succeeding in it. He had asked her to be there. And she hadn't been.
"Its ok." he lied to her.
He didn't understand why he felt so wound up that she hadn't been. He had known there was a chance she wouldn't get there. It had been a risk.
But it was Ariana. The girl he was rapidly thinking of as his best friend along with Hermione and Ron.
A part of him felt they had grown up together. That summer they had both done a lot of growing up. And so in some ways they had. But in others he felt something new for her. A emotion he had never felt before. And he didn't know what it was.
"I swear to you, I did try Harry."
"I know you did."
She nodded. "From what I heard you did really well. I'm proud of you. The Gryffindor champion." she smiled.
Her champion.
The boy had done well.
"Thanks."
It felt to him as if that complement meant the world and more. It didn't matter that Sirius and he had had their first falling out over his behavior. That he had to work out the clue to the second task and that he had an essay for Snape to do. Ariana Dumbledore was proud of him.
That was all that mattered.
-
Sirius and Aberforth were in the Hogshead together. They seemed to be getting together more and more to moan over the children. Maybe it was because they were both new fathers in a way and could relate to one another on a level Sirius and Albus could not. He would never behave the way he did round Aberforth about Albus.
So the two of them sat at the bar drinking talking about the kids, and the stunt they had tried to pull.
"I couldn't believe Harry had been so stupid. He hadn't thought about what he was asking of her."
"And she should have foreseen what could have happened if things had gone wrong." Aberforth replied.
"But you never do see things like that at there age do you. I know me and James never looked for the danger. Only the fun."
"We had too, me and Albus. By the time I was her age she had been ill for a few years. I had to be sensible, we both did."
"But she can have the chance to have fun. Aren't you grateful for that?" Sirius asked.
He was glad Harry had that chance. And that it was with Ariana, he couldn't think of two more deserving people in the world, he shrugged.
Aberforth wasn't so sure.
They were the two most controversial students at Hogwarts. They were in the most danger. They had to learn to be careful some time. All they were was children. They were still fifteen. But soon no doubt next summer would come, and then the next. And they would then be of age.
-
What remained of the term seem to go quickly for both Ariana and Harry. They both had plenty of work to do and more often than not did it together. They ended up talking about any thing and everything though, the weather, family life before Hogwarts, the tournament. Work had to fit in round that.
There was only one thing they never spoke of. The attack that she had suffered when she had been young. He didn't think she would ever want to talk about it. He didn't blame her. And he didn't know if he could handle knowing what had gone on.
As term came to an end though there was an announcement made by her brother. There was to be a Yule ball at Hogwarts. All the champions needed a partner. It didn't take Harry long to work out who he wanted to take to the ball with him.
-
It was one of those rare weekends when Ariana had not gone home. Aberforth was working in the pub by himself. No one had got there yet and so he was alone. It was then that there was a knock at the door.
"Come in." he yelled.
He was surprised to see Harry Potter before him.
He had gone there with a specific mission. He hadn't wanted Ariana to be there when he had gone to her brother but he felt he had too. After all she was an old fashioned girl. And he wanted to get her to the unexpected task honestly, with no lies. And so he had had to go to her brother to ask to take her to the ball.
Aberforth was still bound to be angry he thought to himself over what they had done the last time. But he had to try.
"Sure can I talk to you?" he asked.
Aberforth nodded.
"Aye."
"Its about the Yule ball and Ariana. You see I want to take her. And I want your approval." he said to him.
Aberforth thought that if nothing else the kid had guts to come to him and ask. He surely knew he wanted to turn him away for what he had done. But he suddenly respected Harry more as well. He may have been wrong to try to persuade her to go the first task.
But now he was doing things right.