Animo landed on a rather large pile of books, her backside thumping over the tomes painfully as she rolled to a halt at the end of Albus's desk.
The Hogwarts headmaster let out a slight chuckle, his twinkling eyes just visible over the top of his golden spectacles. Animo scowled and her gaze immediately caught on Albus's left hand. The flesh was darkened and shriveled, evident signs of a powerful curse. Despite Albus's consistent denial, Animo knew it pained him greatly.
Settling into the chair across from her oldest friend, Animo tried to hide the anger that flared in her stomach. He had been a fool to ever put on Marvolo's ring, but she would not attempt to lecture him again. She titled her neck briefly towards the small portrait of Ariana angled on the desk desk, so hidden beneath the other objects that only those who knew to look for it could have seen it. Instinctively, her hand went to her necklace. When Al had told her he had found the Resurrection Stone, Animo had understood exactly why he had put on the ring. The guilt of his sister's death would be one the old man would carry to his grave.
"And how does our favorite dark wizard fare?" Albus leaned forward, clasping his hands together in front of his beard. Animo had tried to advise him several times that waist length facial hair was not ideal, but the eccentric man wouldn't hear a word.
She raised a gentle eyebrow. "We both know that Voldemort is not favored by either of us."
There was a slight pause as the pair let the pain of Gellert's decisions linger over their shoulders. Animo sucked in a long breath as she remembered the terror of her arrival in this time. She had been but another young girl on the streets of London until Dumbledore had found her in Diagon Alley. She supposed the man's younger self did keep at least one of his promises. They had met again. But Animo had not seen Gellert since Albus had sent her hurtling into the future. After the headmaster had finally told her of their duel and her brother's subsequent imprisonment, Animo could not find the strength to face him and Albus had never pushed. It was for her safety that he had sent her away in the first place.
"Well," Albus shifted, adjusting the brim of his hat so that it sat even more crookedly on his forehead. His tone bore an all-knowing and business-like lilt that Animo had learned was a disguise for his true emotions. "I daresay Draco has been set on his path?"
Animo twirled her fingers, motioning towards Fawkes, who shuffled begrudgingly on his perch. Then the phoenix burst into the air in a brief flare of crimson before landing on her knee. A grin tilted Amino's lips as she ran her hand over Fawkes's head, his feathers soothing the terror of the last few hours. "Unfortunately. I still don't see why you can't confront him and—"
Albus raised his good hand, the golden rings about his knuckles glinting in the candlelight from the waxy stump in front of them. "All in good time, my dear."
"I'm not a child anymore, Albus," Animo scolded, leaning forward in frustration and losing her typically mild voice. Fawkes ruffled his wings in indignation at her outburst and Animo softened, sending the bird an apologetic look. However, the phoenix did not seem at all mollified and simply gave her a beady-eyed stare in response.
Animo looked up to see Albus's features soften in thought as he tilted his body towards the window behind them. The starlight glinted off his spectacles, making the reflection of their golden hue dance on the stone wall behind. "You'll have to forgive me. Old habits are hard to divert."
Softening her shoulders, Animo buried her head into her hands, wincing slightly at the sticky feel of her lipstick. "Albus, if you confront Draco now, you will save us a world of pain."
"Ah, but it will not change my fate, will it?" Albus quirked a thin brow while he pushed himself away from his desk with a sigh. "Besides, I will not repeat my mistake of ignoring the few choices I have in my grasp." He strolled over towards the window, not paying attention to the glass as it melted away and exposed them to the warm night air beyond. Both hands were clasped behind his back in what Animo know was typical Albus fashion. "Not again."
Animo frowned, tapping her fingers slightly upon the wooden edge of the table. "Albus, what is bothering you?" She craned her neck, wondering if she could tease the answer out of the elderly man. "I had an excellent Legilmency professor, you know. Don't make me force it out of you."
Her tone was light, but the headmaster's cracked lips only gave a small twitch as he turned away from the night breeze. The tassel on his hat hung over his forehead, the longest threads hovering just above his solemn blue gaze. "I refer to another wizard that I met not long before my duel with Gellert. Then, I was too absorbed in my own pains to recognize the need that was in front of me." Albus gave the top of his chair a remorseful pat. "Something I will never forgive myself for." There was a slight pause before Albus clicked his tongue, motioning for Fawkes to take perch on his arm. The phoenix did so happily without pausing to give Animo a look back. "His name was Tom Riddle."
Flinching slightly, Animo gave an embarrassed cough. Albus's serious expression didn't falter. "Tom? Al," she shook her head, pursing her lips as flashes of tonight's meeting jolted through her head. "When you asked me to join his forces as a spy for you, I wondered if maybe you had mistaken Voldemort for another man." Animo shook her head resolutely and her spine stiffened. "Gellert and Tom Riddle are only the same in one aspect: they will not be saved. They made their choices."
"And yet I still wonder whether there was something more that could have been done." Albus sat down heavily, his brow weighed even further than it had been of late. "You know neither were shown a great deal of compassion, if any at all. Perhaps there was a hope." At Animo's relentless stare, he waved a hand. "Ani, do not let yourself forget that you were once easily swayed."
Animo went deadly still and for the first time, her brilliant purple gaze grew cold, though the change was not directed at the man in front of her but at the memories she was trying to hide. "I wanted to run away Albus," she murmured, scanning the floor beneath her scuffed boots with a heated intensity. "That is not the same as murder."
Fawkes let out a soft cry, slackening Animo's posture before giving her a warning look. Albus shook his head. "There will be times when we want to run from a fight, but we must ask ourselves: if we do not stand in our beliefs, did we ever believe in them in the first place?"
Taking a long breath, Animo's chest shuddered as she remembered the dark men in Knockturn Alley she had convinced to take her to America. But the second she had reached for one of their hands, she had known just how wrong the decision would be to flee. No matter where she ran, she would never escape her conscious and she would forever be in a time that wasn't her own. "Ever the wise one, Al," she let the guilt filter from her limbs as she stood from her chair. "But why linger on the past?" She twisted her lips into a small smile. "Were you not the one to tell me that it does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live?"
A flash of merriment danced through the headmaster's blue orbs while he gave Fawkes's head another fond pat. "Ah, Harry rather liked that one I believe."
"Someday he will tire of your riddles." Animo's tone was wary as she fiddled with her wand, running the tip of her pointer finger over the rough engravings.
"I quite believe he already has," Albus reached over into the golden bowl hovering precariously at the side of his desk. His finger fished through the assorted sweets until he revealed two Lemon Drops, the sweets glittering happily in their clear wrappings. He tossed one to Animo, who accepted gratefully with a bittersweet smile. They had been Gellert's favorite first. "I have been waging a rather fierce debate in my head, Animo," the old man leaned back against his arm rests, pressing the pads of his fingers together. "You see, I still possess the Time Turner that you arrived with."
Animo's head snapped up before she glared at her friend accusingly. "You said you were taking it to the Ministry after the Granger girl was through with it."
Albus waved a hand once more in quick dismissal. "I feared that should you know it was in my possession, you would try to go back." A genuine compassion shone in his eyes as he leaned forward earnestly. "I know you are not happy here, Animo. And don't bother arguing," he shook his head as her jaw opened in half-hearted protest. "I see you watch the students year after year."
"Well, I'm practically a ghost, Al," Animo twisted her fingers together ruefully in her lap. "I think I'm allowed a bit of wishing while you keep me hidden away."
Albus grimaced, although they both knew he would say nothing more. The pair had had countless disagreements over the years concerning whether Animo should be exposed to the public. When Voldemort had returned, the opportunity for Animo to pose as a vicious pureblood was too useful to pass up. Though an entirely new identity had been crafted for her. Voldemort could never know a relative of Grindelwald existed.
"And then, in the Hall of Prophecies this summer," Albus referenced the horrid confrontation carefully and Animo winced, remembering the disarray of his office after that fateful day. Despite his heroic deeds, Harry Potter had a terrible temper. Not that she blamed him of course. "I couldn't help but linger on fate."
Twisting her hands together furtively, Animo tried to hide her stab of alarm. She was nervous about the direction this conversation was headed. "Fudge allowed you back into the hall?"
Albus raised a brow in comradery. "I had just proven myself not to be a batty old codger. I believe it was his way of an apology." At the girl's hesitant expression, the headmaster released a heavy sigh. With gnarled fingers, Albus used his good hand to lift the portrait of Ariana. He stared at her painted face for a long moment.
"I believe you should go back."
For several moments, a long silence stretched over the room, its tendrils choking Animo's throat. Amino stared blankly at the man across from her and blinked. And blinked again.
"Absolutely not."
"Animo—"
"NO." Animo pushed back her chair, shaking her head resolutely and trying to keep the image of her brother from pressing into her memory, his hair glinting in the sun as he laughed. "I will not go back. You cannot ask this of me."
She began to pace the worn cobblestones. Each had borne the weight of Albus's thoughts so many times. Step, step, turn. Step again. Amino focused on counting her movements, anything to keep the recollection of her past at bay.
"Animo, I am not asking you to go back to your childhood." Albus leaned forward across the wooden desk. His expression was laced with pain as he tilted his head. "But to when many years have passed already. I—"
"Albus, what can difference do you think I can possibly make?" Animo burst, shivering with the nerves that had begun to wrack her body. "Gellert was not kind to me as a child. You know that house was constantly full of dark magic and strange men," she shook her head as the wave of terror reared once more, eager to crash over her heart. "If I return to a nearer point, Gellert will have had many more years' experience. There will be no reaching him."
There was a warm hand on her shoulder and Animo looked up, not having realized that Albus had left his chair and was now standing beside her. Her lanky frame nearly towered over his frail one and Animo was hit with a stab of realization of just how unhealthy the headmaster had become. The curse of the ring was taking its effect.
"Ani, I have not told you this because I was ashamed," Albus paused, mulling over his words while his face sagged with exhaustion. Animo stilled, having rarely heard the man so vulnerable. "But after I disarmed Gellert in our final duel, he looked at me in the eye and told me that I was as bad as he. For wherever I had sent you, I had resigned you to a fate worse than death. One without a family or a home. In my thirst for vengeance, I had destroyed," the old man swallowed thickly, seeming to find it hard to voice his pain, "two sisters in the place of one."
Pulling back at an angle, Animo scanned Albus's features before shaking her head "Al, you were—"
"He was right." Animo floundered at the headmaster's steady admission, his blue gaze imploring her to listen. "There was a part of me that day that believed if I couldn't have Ariana," the name barely escaped the roll of his tongue, "then he had no right to you. I tried to convince myself it was for your safety, yes, but I will never forgive my hasty decision. Ani, take this chance," she couldn't find any words as Albus took her hand between his, patting it gently. "And maybe you could help him see the truth in a way I could not."