The summer that changed history

Aberforth and Ariana

Albus awoke to the sound of shouting coming from outside his room; it was his brother Aberforth. He rubbed his eyes as his eyes slowly adjusted. Aberforth was now hammering on the door with his fist and shouting at Albus to wake up. He scrambled out of bed and hastily opened the door. In the doorway, his younger brother, Aberforth, stood, glaring at him, his auburn hair a mess.

"About time you woke up, you bloody idiot! Ariana's been crying while you've been asleep!" He growled

Albus felt a twinge of guilt for not checking on Ariana before falling asleep; Aberforth had to go to the market to get more food. Aberforth looked positively fuming at the fact that Albus had fallen asleep while he was away. Albus figured he wouldn't be happy if he found out about his and Gellert's trip a few hours earlier. In fact, come to think of it, he didn't even know Gellert existed. He supposed he could introduce them to Gellert if Ariana was calm and Aberforth was civil enough. He felt bad for Ariana. Aberforth was extremely paranoid about her safety after their mother's death, so she had never been outside properly since she was six, as their mother wanted to keep her inside the house as well. Albus knew they meant well and understood why, but he also realised Ariana felt trapped inside this house, just like Albus did, but for very different reasons. Aberforth said that Albus didn't understand her, but Albus thought he understood a lot more than Aberforth did sometimes; Aberforth was paranoid about Ariana even being left alone. He knew this frustrated Ariana very much, but he kept quiet as she knew Aberforth meant well.

"Well? I managed to calm her down before she had another fit! "You're so irresponsible!" Aberforth grunted, his eyes filled with fury.

Albus rolled his eyes; if either of them was irresponsible, it would be Aberforth. He walked towards Ariana's room, stopping in the doorway. She was sitting on her bed reading, but obviously had been crying as there were red marks under her eyelids. He also noticed she was reading a picture book; Albus suppressed a scoff. Aberforth seemed to think that words in normal books would confuse and upset her, so he would give her picture books. Albus didn't understand how a book would send Ariana into a fit, but he guessed it was just Aberforth being his usual paranoid self. Ariana looked like a normal girl, with bright blue eyes, wavy golden curls, and pale skin. Ariana would come into Albus's room to ask for one of his books when Aberforth was away at his job. He told Albus to look after Ariana and that he would get a part-time job to make ends meet. Aberforth ended up getting a job at a farm, pulling horses and the like, and worked there for three hours a day.

"Ariana?" Albus said softly:

She looked up from her book. Her eyes seemed to light up when she noticed her brothers were at the door. She jumped out of bed and hugged them both tightly, taking both of them aback. Aberforth hugged her back gently and glared at Albus to return the hug, which he did. They broke apart a few seconds later, with Ariana beaming up at them. It was very rare to see Ariana as happy as this; her expression was usually vacant. She also seemed to be having fewer fits and seemed to be more calm these past two weeks. Albus decided it was safe for her to meet Gellert; he would just have to convince Aberforth to be civil. Besides, he thought it might cheer her up. He knew how much Ariana liked meeting new people. Aberforth, however, was cautious about Ariana meeting new people. Albus had tried to tell him that keeping her away from the world would only make her feel isolated and more abnormal; they had many fights over Ariana going outside.

"Ariana?"

"Yes, Al?" Ariana asked, beaming up at Abus.

"Would you like to meet someone new? as long as Aberforth agrees, of course." Albus asked gently.

"What do you mean someone new?" Aberforth started sharply but was interrupted by
Ariana was squealing in delight at the idea.

Ariana started jumping up and down and tugging on Aberforth's jacket, pleading with him to agree to the idea and promising she would try to stay calm while meeting this new mystery person. Aberforth eventually gave in and agreed to Ariana's pleas.