Written for QLFC Season 11, Round 4.
Title: The Hole in Her Heart
Team: Caerphilly Catapults
Position: Chaser 2
Prompts: Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, California: Write about a house with troubling secrets. Optional prompts used: (emotion) suspicious, (trope) forbidden love, (action) screaming
Betas: Queenie, Sky
Warnings: Cannon character death, swearing, homophobia, use of slurs, canon divergence
Word Count: 2975
Author's Note: About the slur usage used in this fic, I use the f-slur in this fic to emphasize the homophobic feelings of one character (Aberforth). I am a queer person and being so enables me to use that word. If you are not part of the community, you shouldn't use the f-slur, or honestly just all slurs whose communities you're not a part of, since it's a word that represents a lot of oppression and struggle and is not yours to use. That being said, enjoy the fic!
'The Hole in Her Heart'
The Dumbledore House stood quiet and tall in Godric's Hollow, its heavy red bricks giving it a sense of warmth that the emptiness and quiet of the house didn't reflect. Its front gardens were large and seemed to always be in bloom with lemon-colored flowers planted neatly in a line.
While most spectators said that there was nothing special about the house in its emptiness, some would swear until blue in the face that there was a ghost, still tending to the house's flowers.
They were right, there was a ghost. The flowers were tended to by a girl who didn't want to leave her front gardens. She saw the daring children who would knock on the door only to run away screaming when she'd send them a wisp of wind in greeting.
The day she died, she wasn't expecting to. Her day had been going rather well and no fourteen-year-old, especially Ariana Dumbledore, expects their day to lead to impending death. She'd woken up to Aberforth's goat, Winifred, bleating to her in announcement of the sun rising and spent the morning tending to her flowers. Hours later, with sticky sweat coating her forehead, she'd abandoned her tools and made her way inside to find a book and some water.
She would've summoned them if she could, but Albus always told her that her magic was special and took longer than most to settle in herself. Privately she wondered if it would ever settle and, by Morgana, how she longed to be like her smart brothers, waving her wand, like they often did, to summon butterflies and water and breezes. To never have to walk for something as mundane as water, to be able to save her energy for more exciting activities! Like gardening and running and doing Albus' hair. That of course would need for her magic to settle which, she reminded herself, would take a while. Until then, she would have to deal with walking to get water and using Muggle garden tools to get her flowers comfortable in their soil. Though, she couldn't say she minded too much.
As she approached the kitchen, she glanced out the window to check if it was too sunny to sit outside. It wasn't, though that wasn't what she ended up focusing on.
Gellert and Albus were kissing. They did that sometimes, though never when they thought they were in the sight of people. She occasionally saw them together when she went to open their home's windows or was looking for her charmed shears. She didn't particularly like Gellert if she were to be honest and talk to anyone but Aberforth, who was constantly looking for a reason to kick him out of their cottage. But she couldn't say she minded him either. He made Albus' eyes glitter with joy so she saw no reason to say anything.
She thought it sweet to see her too-strict brother be happy. And he was happy. Every time he saw Gellert his face lit up like a Lumos maxima charm and even stoic mean Gellert couldn't help the brightness in his eyes when he saw Albus.
She would realize later that it was supposed to be some kind of secret. She had been walking out to the garden to read her novel among the pastel butterflies that Ms. Bagshot from next door had conjured for her, when she saw them sitting entwined, lost in each other's presence. She thought nothing of it.
"Hi, Alby!" She drew him out of his love-lorn gaze into Gellert's eyes. She turned to Gellert, thinking it rude to just not greet him. It would've made Mother rather upset. "Hello, Gellert. I hope you're well."
Gellert moved away from her brother so quickly and with such spirit that he managed to fall to the ground with a thud. He was obviously startled but rose, irritated and sputtering, "Have you no decency to announce your presence and intention, child?"
She just blinked at him, confused at his irritation, "Why must I announce my presence and intention to read in my garden?"
"You interrupted something important-"
"If you're talking about you and Albus being here." She made a point to glance at where Gellert had been sitting next to Albus, "Then I can assure you that I don't mind."
"You don't mind?"
Albus winced, "Please don't tell-"
"Aberforth won't hear anything from me Alby, I promise."
Gellert moved to lean over her, "Really?"
She only smiled tightly, unsure of his intensity, but trying to reassure him, "Yes, Gellert. I wouldn't want Albus to be anything but happy."
"Then swear you won't say anything, child," he said, his wand easily fixed on her jugular, "Swear your secrecy-" Albus quickly moved himself between the two of them, shoving Gellert's wand arm down, and effectively away from her.
"Gellert!" Albus snapped.
"Wha-"
"Don't point your wand at my sister."
Gellert rolled his eyes, "I'm just making sure that we will remain safe-"
"We will remain safe, love."
"For that to happen she needs to not say anything."
"And I told you that I wo–"
"So trust her when she says she won't." He turned his face to meet her eyes, "Right, Ariana?"
"Yes, Albus," she said, her eyes focusing on the yellow dandelion starting to peek out among the grass on the ground.
Later, when she sat with Aberfoth and his most recently adopted goat, her brother and Gellert were brought up again, and not for the first time.
Aberforth turned away from where he was gently brushing Winifred and muttered in her direction, "I think there might be something between dear Albus and Gellert." He didn't like Gellert, never did, and even claimed that there was something wrong with his conscience. His morals! They were rather unsettling.
She blinked, trying to steady her expression, "Do you mean friendship, Ab? They're dear friends, wouldn't you say?"
"No, not about them being friends, Ari. They are definitely hiding something."
By now, Ariana could almost feel her upper lip swimming with sweat and see her hands clench into incriminating fists. "I can't say I know what you're talking about brother."
Abruptly, Aberforth began grinning at her with a strained smile that didn't quite meet his eyes. Winifred chose that moment to slowly back away from her foster parent. "Of course you don't. I believe you, Ari."
She gulped and looked away from his knowing glance, "Alright then." She knew her not meeting his eyes was suspicious but she didn't know what else to say to make him trust her.
Aberforth was not a trusting person, even he'd admit to it. His paranoia didn't generally extend to his family. Albus did some questionable things occasionally but he was always pretty obvious about it. His brother wouldn't know subtlety if it wrote him a letter and flapped it under his nose like a feather. Weeks into Gellert visiting his Auntie Bagshot, Albus and him seemed to stop talking as soon as he entered the room. 'Obvious Albus' didn't make much eye contact with him anymore, and sometimes Aberforth would find scraps of paper with strange symbols on them in rooms the two of them had been in. It was safe to say that Aberforth was easily suspicious of them hiding something.
He truly believed that the secret could be something terrible, hence his concern. Gellert, unlike Albus, seemed to swim in secrets and subtlety and cruelty. Aberforth didn't miss the sneers that Gellert aimed at an unknowing Ariana or the jokes that he would mutter that seemed too dark for anyone else's taste. Gellert must have been corrupting Albus, and Aberforth intended to find out how.
"I know your secret, Albus."
Albus almost jumped out of his skin as his little brother stepped into the study that was once their father's. Aberfoth walked to stand in front of the desk like a soldier giving a report or a student who'd been sent to the headmaster's office for being in trouble. However, something about the way that his brother stalked toward him gave him the distinct feeling that he was the one in trouble.
"...What secret Ab?"
"You know which one."
Albus couldn't say he did. "Erm, I feel your suspicion might not be justified right now…"
Aberforth crossed his arms, "It involves you and Gellert-"
He rose from the leather chair he had been sitting on behind the long wooden desk, made his way around it, and stood a couple feet away from Ab as he met his eyes. "I know that you aren't the biggest fan of the 'gay agenda', but I promise that we don't really have a gay agenda in particular-"
"You're gay?" Aberforth's eyes widened in shock.
Albus' eyes widened in panic, "Yes? No? What secret were you referring to?"
"I was talking about you and Gellert obviously planning something terrible."
"We're working on doing something that'll help us change the magical world for the better."
"I can't imagine Gellert ever doing something for someone else."
"Of course you wouldn't, you're suspicious of him when he's making you tea. By Morgana, Aberforth, give the Wizard a chance."
"He's not right in the head, of course, I'm suspicious of him. Have you seen him with old Bagshot? Poor lady doesn't stand a chance against his iron fist." Aberforth loudly thumped his fist against the oak table.
At the loud noise, Albus just raised an eyebrow, folded his hands, and said curtly, "I don't think he or any of my business concerns you. You should make your way out of my office. This conversation is over." At that he went back to the chair behind the desk and sat down, staring pointedly away from Aberforth's person focusing on the wood grain of his desk.
"This conversation will not be over just because you said so, you coward." At Albus' silence, he said, "And for the record, your business concerns me given that, despite your refusal to think about it, you are my and Ari's brother and GUARDIAN. If you start gallivanting around the world, we'll be placed in the hands of the ministry and they'll separate us."
Albus still didn't say anything and instead, most irritatingly, started singing the Hogwarts song and bobbing his head to the beat. "Hogwarts, Hogwarts-"
"They won't know how to handle Ariana, she's sensitive and the ministry has no reason to care for her-"
"-Hoggy warty Hogwarts-"
"-which is one of the reasons you have to stay here with us, even if I know you'd like to be somewhere fucking stupid Grindelwald-"
He continued louder, "-TEACH us something-"
"-And your plan of 'changing the world'," he used the large air quotes with pleasure, "sounds vague and suspicious considering the way Gellert acts-"
Albus' pitch got higher, suddenly switching to a terribly screechy soprano part. "Whether we be old and bald-"
"GODDAMMIT ALBUS," Aberforth proceeded to reach out to the tall bookshelf that was lined up to the wall nearest to his left hand, grab the first book he could, and chucked it at a still singing Albus, "SHUT UP AND LISTEN." The book flew across the room, about to reach its target of Albus' irritating mouth, when it stopped millimeters away from its intended target, floating in mid-air as the subject of an effective Arresto Momentum charm.
Albus immediately stopped singing as he and Aberforth stared at the floating book for a moment before switching his gaze to the caster of the charm.
"I would appreciate you not assaulting my boyfriend. I do need him for certain plans."
Aberforth did a one-eighty to snarl at Grindelwald. "Oh, I know all about your plans for world domination."
"Then you understand the need for us to show Muggles their rightful place?"
"Their rightful place? What the fuck are you talking about, you fag?" He stared at Grindelwald for a second before angrily raising his eyebrows at Albus, as if to say 'Really this guy?'.
Grindelwald's anger finally matched Aberforth's. He moved from his spot at the office doorway and stalked toward him. "Don't say that word to me, asshole–"
Albus finally stood up from his seat, seeing the situation worsen. "You saw what they did to Ariana, Aberforth. You see what she's become!"
"Don't you dare bring Ari into this-'' He leaned toward Albus, face lit up in anger.
Grindelwald, on the other hand, seemed irritated at being momentarily ignored. "AY Tommie, look at me when I'm talking to you." He shot a stunning curse at Aberforth. By now, Aberforth was more than itching to fight. He blocked the hex and launched one of his own at the Wizard.
Albus easily blocked the curse from reaching Gellert, but the shattering hex bounced off his Protego and landed on an unsuspecting orange vase instead. He winced as he spelled a giant shield border between the two men. "Gentlemen," both turned to look at him, wands still raised, "How about we take this outside?"
Little did they know that Ariana was right where they were heading, tending to her backyard flower garden.
"Get away from there Ari, Albus' evil boyfriend might hurt you-" And a spell that Gellert must have been aiming for Aberforth shot in her direction as Albus pulled the blonde's arm down to stop him from casting.
He was too late. The green light of the muttered Deprimo raced toward a wide-eyed Ariana.
"NO!" Aberforth heard himself scream as he launched himself toward where his sister stood.
It was too late. The misfired racing green light had already met its mark and a gaping hole was now where her chest should have been.
A body thudded to the floor.
"NO," her brother cried, "ARIANA!" He was screaming loudly now and was fighting an unnaturally somber Albus who was trying to tug him away from someone's body. Her body. Ariana was watching her two favorite people in the world deal with losing her.
"Aberforth," her elder brother mumbled as he pulled her struggling brother away, "Let her have her peace."
Aberforth was starting to cry as he continued to thrash, "What do you mean peace? Let me revive her, LET GO OF ME ALBUS!"
Albus looked up at the sky for strength, "If we bring her back, she will never be the same. She'll live regretting her life, yearning for anything but the body she's left with. She," His voice started to crack, "will yearn for death, Aberforth. Can't we offer her this one kindness?"
"YOU CALL LETTING HER DIE A KINDNESS? YOU SICK BASTARD."
Ariana watched as her dear brother, her kind Aberforth, turned around into their elder brother's restraining arms and went to punch him, eyes still flowing with fat tears, and cheeks only getting redder. He punched him forcefully, not stopping after the first hit. Albus made no attempt to stop him, taking each subsequent blow with an unmoving resolve.
He stopped after about four punches. After Gellert pulled him away from his friend. But Aberforth leaned away, not wanting to be touched by anyone, least of all Gellert.
Gellert winced, looking at Aberforth's shaking shoulders before moving to stand next to Albus. He tried to grasp her brother's hand though Albus wouldn't let him. Albus turned his body away from Gellert.
"Albus," she wanted to whisper, "don't worry about it. I'm right here!" They couldn't hear her.
The blonde whispered softly, trying to comfort him, only for Albus to shrug off his attempts. He turned toward him more coldly than ever before and murmured sharply, "I think you've done enough." Gellert's expression dropped and wordlessly left the yard in silence.
Ariana saw her two brothers scream at each other, both trying to prove that they cared about her, that they deserved to grieve. Except that she knew they cared and it was a ridiculous thing to argue about especially when they could have been bonding over her death and not growing further apart.
Aberforth was screaming, "MY sister is DEAD because of YOU!"
And Albus was trying to pretend that their brother's words weren't affecting him. He was apparently focused on her funeral. "Aberforth, I need you to hold that thought until we figure out how to handle this-"
Ariana decided she had had enough and willed her magic to listen, willed herself to be seen as the translucent ghost that she'd become, and screamed, irritation gliding through her dead voicebox, "BROTHERS!"
Both Dumbledore brothers turned toward her eyes wide. Aberforth looked like he might burst into another bout of tears while Albus, though he clutched his pearls that must've been a gift from Gellert, looked relieved.
"Ariana!"
"Ari!"
"Hi Alby! Hi Ab!"
Albus took a calming breath to ground himself and asked, "What happened?"
"I guess I wasn't ready to go on."
Aberforth, however, seemed oddly focused on her floating person, "Dear Merlin, Ari, your ghost is missing a hole just like your body."
She glanced down, just noticing the giant gaping hole in her chest, but was unperturbed, "It's not like I need my chest anymore anyways."
Aberforth snorted a laugh.
"So about the funeral?" Albus interrupted.
Her answer was easy, "How about we keep it small?"
Her brother's eyebrows raised, "How small?"
"All the people I care about are right here." Aberforth hid a grin, but Albus didn't try to hide the twinkle in his eyes.
So they had a small ceremony with just the three of them. Her elder brother read off funeral rites that Aberforth made sure she was listening to. The ministry was told nothing more than a basic idea of what might have happened and that was that.
Eventually the Dumbledore House emptied, each brother choosing to go live their life while they still had time but Ariana chose to stay. She couldn't bear to leave the only place she'd been happy. The only place that was home.