They spent long hours at St. Mungo's, Albus leading a round-table discussion on possible new treatment options, Severus holding Eileen's hand and trying to soothe her as the healers worked around them putting the room back together. Albus also sent his phoenix Fawkes into the room to sing to her. Unexpectedly, though this initially did ease her panic, she then became angry again because she viewed the phoenix song as an attempt to enchant her. She refused any and all magical treatment for the rest of the day, so Severus instead sat through a lengthy counseling session with Valerian and another healer relying solely on muggle psychological techniques, which Severus viewed basically as forms of refined manipulation against Eileen's currently illogical brain. Towards evening, Eileen grew remorseful for being so stubborn and accepted a Draught of Peace, only if Severus himself brewed it. It was finally ready an hour before midnight, but even after that, she was still so afraid of having another attack or of one of the healers using "crazy charms" on her, Severus agreed to spend the night with her.

Severus slept exceedingly poorly on a hastily transfigured mattress on the floor of Eileen's hospital room. He hated the feeling of being watched through the hall window just as much as his mother did; he had never slept well in the Hogwarts hospital wing as a student either. As a result, he was both tired and depressed the next morning. Albus returned after breakfast to collect him, in case his leaving set Eileen off again.

"Severus, join me for a drink," the headmaster said as soon as they returned to the icy streets of Hogsmead.

Severus looked at him incredulously. "It is noon on a Sunday, Albus." He did not want to socialize.

Albus, apparently, did. "You can have butterbeer. Even the first year Gryffindors have trouble getting drunk on that."

"I can't have tea? Alone in my rooms while grading tests?"

"Humor me."

"Fine."

Albus led him down the main street not to the Three Broomsticks but rather to the older and rather dingier Hogs Head Inn. As soon as they entered the empty taproom, Albus flipped the sign to read "closed." Severus raised his eyebrows, and the barman scowled. "Stealing my business, are you now?"

"Of course not. I'd just like to book the room for a private event for the next hour, Aberforth."

"I need two weeks' advance notice on that kind of thing," the barman grumbled.

"I'll pay three times your usual rate."

"I don't take charity."

"Why on earth do you want to book the place at all, Albus?" Severus cut in witheringly. Offices were perfectly suitable places for private conversation, if that's all Albus wanted.

"I thought the three of us should have a little chat."

"Why do you want me to talk to him?" Severus and Aberforth asked simultaneously, then looked at eachother suspiciously.

"Because you're both related to Obscurials."

Severus almost choked, he was so angry that Albus would reveal his private affairs to a stranger so casually. Aberforth just sighed and started lifting dusty bottles up from under the bar. He popped off the lids and brought the three bottles around to one of the tables, where Albus happily joined him. Severus reluctantly sat as well. Aberforth studied him. "I've seen you before, haven't I?"

Severus grabbed one of the bottles and wiped some of the dust off of it. Ginger beer, not butterbeer. "You threw me out of the building once about four years ago and told me never to come back," he said shortly.

"Really? What were you doing?"

"Eavesdropping outside someone else's room."

Aberforth's eyes narrowed. "Was it a woman, or was that war-related?"

Both. Albus answered for him, though. "It is in the past, and irrelevant. I will introduce you again. Aberforth, this is Severus Snape. He is a good man and has been teaching potions at the school for two-and-a-half years. Severus, this is my brother, Aberforth Dumbledore."

Severus was momentarily stunned. He had not known Albus had a brother. In fact, the entire concept of Albus Dumbledore and a family life felt wrong and alien, as if it were more natural for Albus to have simply sprung into existence as an old man. There was definitely a family resemblance once he looked for it though, with their matching blue eyes, long noses, and voluminous grey beards obscuring much of the facial structure. Aberforth was shorter, his nose was straight instead of crooked, and his lips were thinner, but truly the main difference was in their carriage. The wrinkles in Aberforth's face reflected a lifetime's worth of perpetual scowling. And his dress matched his bar: drab shades of grey, not a hint of Albus' flamboyancy. Aberforth grunted at the introduction. "Severus Snape, eh? I read about you in the papers a few years ago. Albus' prized double-agent. He wouldn't tell anyone your name at the time, of course, not until Crouch heard about you from the other side and made noises about arresting you. Then he had to make a public statement." He took a swig from his own bottle. "'Course, only half the population actually believed you were Albus' double agent."

Severus looked back and forth between the two Dumbledores. He decided not to comment on his own history. "There's an Obscurial in your family?" he asked.

Albus nodded sadly and looked at Aberforth. "Do you mind, Abe?" The barman waved his hand carelessly. "Our sister, Ariana, after a group of muggle boys caught her performing accidental magic when she was six and attacked her. And... Aberforth's son, Aurelius." Severus was doubly shocked to learn there were two of them.

"Credence," Aberforth corrected.

"Who was tragically lost to the family as an infant and ended up being raised in an American muggle orphanage run by a very conservative, very anti-witchcraft religious cult. His case became more public than Ariana's when Grindelwald found him in America. He was the one Healer Valerian mentioned to you."

Aberforth's eyes widened, and he stared at Severus. "Valerian's a mind healer. I've met him. He's young. You have a family member being treated for an Obscurus right now?" He suddenly rounded on Albus. "You were supposed to stop this kind of thing from happening, definitely not in magical Britain! You promised!" Severus winced at Aberforth's tone. He was sorry Albus had dragged up all this pain.

"Eileen's case is different," Albus said calmly.

"They're all different, you fool, but you told me you had figured it out."

"Clearly, I was wrong. And Eileen's case is more different than usual."

Aberforth snorted. "Yeah? How?"

Albus looked to Severus. At least he was asking permission before spilling all of Severus' secrets. But the cat was out of the bag now. "Eileen is my mother," Severus answered.

"No. You're a professor for going on three years, so you're at least twenty-one! Even Credence didn't make it that long! And if you tell me she had you at age twelve or something, I shall be sick."

Severus grimaced in disgust and shook his head. "I assure you, this is a recent development, just this year. That's what's different."

Aberforth looked back at Albus. "And you're sure an Obscurus is..."

"I'm sure, Abe."

Aberforth shook his head sadly. "I won't question that I suppose. Merlin knows what we don't about Obscurials. I'm sorry, lad."

"This case raises the old question, Aberforth," Albus said urgently. Aberforth rolled his eyes. "It's unprecedented in an adult! There must be something we're missing..."

"What question?" Severus asked softly.

"The question of heritance," Aberforth said caustically. "Obscurials are rare ever since the International Statute of Secrecy. Two in one family? Unheard of. He thought there must be some kind of predisposition in our blood rather than mere bad luck. He researched it with that Scamander fellow for years before giving it up as a dead end and turning to social interventions. He even talked me into digging up our mother's body to get tissue samples..." he shook his head and glared at his brother.

"It was a hypothesis I could not ignore. And later, well, it seemed social interventions would work," Albus said. "If we could only get wizarding children all the way through their magical development, then the risk was gone. Clearly, that is not the case. From what I can glean from the old records about Eileen's family life when she was a student, and from questioning her myself to the extent she was willing to talk to me, it appears childhood trauma is neither necessary nor sufficient to produce an Obscurial. I am back to square one. And now... did you know that in 1977, muggles devised a way to actually read the cellular codes of inheritance? From what I've read in their scientific journals, if we have samples from Eileen as a patient, you as an unrelated carrier, and Severus and I as potential carriers, a few more donors whose blood should be clean... then we have the ability to answer the question!"

Severus felt like Albus had just hit a bludger into his stomach. He suddenly decided he actually did prefer Albus tiptoe around his feelings right now, no matter how annoying it got.

Aberforth's expression grew thunderous. "Albus, you prick, did you really bring the poor boy here, while his mother is dying, to talk him into researching the process with you?"

"Not just that," Albus said defensively.

"Go away," Severus muttered, face flaming.

"Severus, I-"

"He said 'go away,' so leave!" Aberforth commanded. Albus opened his mouth to protest further. Aberforth drew his wand. "Don't make me throw you out."

Albus threw up his hands. "Very well. Severus, if you have taken offense, I sincerely apologize. I trust I will see you at dinner?" Severus nodded. Albus frowned and left.

Aberforth grunted and muttered "Good riddance" under his breath. "Can I get you something stronger, son?" Severus shook his head. He had made that mistake once. He was not going to do it again. Aberforth leaned back in his chair and took another swig from his own bottle. "Sorry about him. He's always been like that, ever so nice but completely clueless when it comes to quality emotional support. I think that's why he likes children. Less complex emotions, so he can fake it easier by smiling and saying weird, confusing nonsense to distract them from whatever upset them. Of course, that means if it's serious, their parents or someone else still have to talk through the real problem later."

Severus snorted. That was an apt characterization of Albus, only mildly unfair. "I'm sorry we ruined your day too, not just mine."

Aberforth shrugged. "At least I have a customer. You'd be surprised how often I don't, with Rosmerta in town." He grinned. "To be honest, I'd pick the Three Broomsticks if I was going out, too. Bigger, newer, successful enough to be cleaner, with a pretty thirty-something running the place rather than a crusty and bitter old man. And she brews some good stuff. I've still got the older, more interesting cellar, though. Oh, and don't worry, I'll make Albus pick up the tab, not you, since it was his idea..." he trailed off. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

"I don't blame you. It's awful when it's happening to someone you care about. You feel so helpless, like your only purpose is to weather the storm well enough to help put them back together again. It was bad enough with Ariana. It was so much worse with Credence."

"Because he was your son?" Severus asked despite himself.

"I suppose. I never had a chance to be his father though. I was still in school when he was born. His mum was a teenager too, and her parents were furious. They decided to move the whole family to America. I didn't fight them, didn't fight to keep him. They were mixed-bloods, so they took a boat. The boat sank, and everyone thought little Aurelius sank with it."

"Aurelius?"

"That's what we named him. It's not the name he knew, though. And then he grew up in a hateful, American, muggle orphanage. By the time he came to Albus' attention, he was already an Obscurial, and one of the most powerful ones on record." He hung his head. "I finally met him again, just before he died. He made it to twenty-six, amazingly. We had a few months to get to know eachother. I said it was worse than Ariana because Credence was so alone before then. It was hard to grow up with Ariana in the house, but we were still able to love her and take care of her. Credence did not have that for most of his life. I cared about him of course but didn't really love him at the end either, because we never had the time to bond as more than invalid and carer. I failed him so much worse."

Tears suddenly pricked in Severus' eyes. "I didn't realize how alone my mother was until this happened," he said shakily. "Do you think..."

Aberforth tapped the table. "Hey. This is not your fault. How old are you? Twenty-five?"

"Twenty-three."

"Same thing. You're young, barely an adult even if you are a teacher. That's not an insult to you, just a statement of fact. I don't care how smart you are, how many N.E.W.T.s you got, how mature you are for your age, hell, how many Death Eaters you might have killed in the war... there was no reason for you to expect and watch for something that is totally unprecedented."

"What if she was traumatized, when she was young? Not by muggles, but by magic?"

"What do you mean?"

"Her whole family disowned her when she married my father. A muggle."

"Was she twelve at the time?"

Severus blinked. "Obviously not. I think she was... twenty-five? Twenty-six?"

"Older than you," Aberforth observed. "So that doesn't count as Albus' vaunted childhood trauma theory, does it?"

"No... and she was fine magically before, even if she was unhappy. Right up until my father's murder during the war."

"Oof. Sorry for that too. That's what kicked it off?"

"She wasn't the same after."

"Sorry."

"I should have done something sooner."

Aberforth shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe getting her to the healers would have helped. And maybe it wouldn't have made a difference. Maybe Albus is right and there's some kind of familial predisposition just waiting for a sufficiently horrible trigger. I repeat, no matter what, this is not your fault."

Severus scowled. "Maybe not, but it sure feels like it is."

Aberforth's eyes crinkled. "I know. That's why Credence was worse. I still can only rarely bring myself to even look at his likeness."

They both drank ginger beer in silence for awhile. "What happens next?" Severus asked eventually.

"You mean, how does it progress?"

Severus nodded. "Her first Obscurus manifestation was in mid-November. She had another yesterday."

"And you said your father died during the war?"

Severus nodded. "1981."

"That's fast. Faster than Ariana. She stopped exhibiting accidental magic immediately, but then went three, almost four years before her first Obscurus attack at age nine, didn't have another for almost a year. She was fourteen when she died, would have lasted longer if it weren't for Albus' stupid romance with Gellert." Severus half-choked on his ginger beer and quickly decided never to mention that little tidbit to Albus. Not only was Albus, er, bent, but with Gellert Grindelwald?! Aberforth continued blithely, "Credence we don't know as much about, but he was in that orphanage from age one and never even remembered performing any normal accidental magic. He didn't manifest his Obscurus until his late teens, and he thought he was going insane and hallucinating through each episode at first. Everyone thought that was old. Ariana's course was much more typical. Anyway... the attacks will come more frequently and more violently. They'll last longer. She might learn to summon them at will, but ultimately they'll become harder for her to bring back under control. The Obscurus will gain a visible form. Her physical body will grow ill as the Obscurus grows in strength. The only way I know to slow down the attacks is for her to increase her use of ordinary magic, although I'm not sure if that slows down the progression itself. Ariana's last years were more peaceful, once I taught her a couple harmless, wandless charms. Credence did better that way too, he thought."

"Doesn't matter. She won't do any spells," Severus commented bitterly.

"She won't?"

"She deliberately stopped... almost two years ago, now." That was when she destroyed her wand, anyway. "That's the main thing we think triggered it all."

"Well... I'm sorry, again. Albus also thought it was possible to slow progression with enough love and emotional support, but he based that theory on Ariana, and Credence' story threw that theory out the window in my opinion, since his was the most prolonged case in history."

Severus sneered. "He said I needed practice. Guess I know why." Aberforth raised his eyebrows, but Severus shook his head. He did not care to explain. "Thanks for telling me."

"Albus didn't?" Severus shook his head again. "Typical. He probably thought it was so horrible you wouldn't want to know. But of course you would! There's another piece of advice for you. If Albus is on her case, he'll keep fighting for her until the end, and he'll try to be optimistic until the end. You can bet everyone else will follow his lead. If it comes to it, don't be afraid to put your foot down."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean he would have taken Ariana on his post-graduation world-tour, pretending like she was fine, and he would have experimented on her with Gellert if I had let him. Would have experimented on Credence with Scamander, too, but Scamander thought it was better to just let him come home with me at that point, he was so ill. 'Fixing things' is Albus' way of helping, because he's brilliant and thinks he can solve any problem if he tries hard enough. But he forgets that he's playing with real people." He gestured expansively. "Let him try to help, absolutely. If anyone can come up with a miracle, he can. But if you and your mum decide whatever he comes up with is futile and causing more distress than anything else, you tell Albus to piss off. I'll back you up."

Severus' lips quirked. "Thank you, I suppose." There was another pause, until Severus said. "She's at St. Mungo's. Since before the first attack."

"I sort of guessed that. You weren't wrong to take her there. St. Mungo's wasn't a good option for Ariana or Credence."

"Why not?" Severus asked curiously.

"Mostly because we knew what it was right away and that it was terminal, so made the family decision to care at home. But also, the original building was much smaller and got badly damaged in the Great War... I mean muggle World War I.. by muggle bombs - wizards didn't know much about those yet, you see. Rebuilding was delayed for decades, first by bureaucracy, then by the Blitz and issues with Grindelwald's British supporters, with the healers operating out of the Ministry and Diagon Alley in the interim. The current department store location was acquired and converted semi-emergently towards the end of Grindelwald's War to deal with the spell-damage victims. Anyway, your mum's probably stuck there for the duration, one way or another. They won't want to let her leave."

"I know. And it wouldn't be feasible. I can't take care of her here, nor would her home be safe, even if I resigned my post. It's in a muggle neighborhood." And they'd have no income.

"Huh. Never realized I was one of the lucky ones when it came to taking care of Obscurials. They can be very resource-intensive." It wasn't funny, but Severus snickered anyway. He tipped back his ginger beer again, only to realize it was empty. "Another? Or something else?" Aberforth offered.

Severus shook his head. "No. I should get back to Hogwarts. Thank you very much for talking to me, though."

Aberforth nodded. "You're welcome. And you are welcome to come back any time. I rescind my previous order banning you from the premises."

"Ah, my quest was successful, then."

Aberforth snorted and stood up. "I'm a sucker for sob stories alright. Don't let Albus bully you."

"If he tries, I'll hex him. Or tell him you will."

"And it would even be true, if I heard about it. And I mean it about coming back any time. I don't really go anywhere. I was much more hands-on with both Ariana and Credence than Albus was. I'd be happy to give you some pointers; I imagine that was his other motivation for introducing us, the prat."

Severus nodded, but he didn't really feel like troubleshooting his miserable attempt to relate to his mother at the moment. "I'll keep that in mind."

Fortunately, Aberforth wasn't one to press the point. "Goodbye, Severus."

Author's note: Sanger DNA sequencing was invented in 1977. Even if there were a genetic predisposition towards developing an Obscurus, Albus is probably wrong that they would have been able to figure it out in 1983, though. Process was still too slow, and who's to say they wouldn't accidently start identifying predisposition-to-being-a-wizard genes instead?

I'm only intending to flirt with the edges of the Fantastic Beasts story lines, and only as relevant. There's far too much inconsistency and frankly bad plotting for me to ever want to deal with most of that lore directly, methinks.