Chapter Text
Prologue
Summer 1898
Summers were awful. Mother and Abe were close – and worked together to keep Ariana “safe.” They seemed to suspect that Albus did not agree with how the family was handling Ariana. Albus was less certain that Ariana required protecting than that everyone needed protecting from Ariana. When she was calm, she could be sweet, but any emotion made her terrifying – her magic was wild, unpredictable, and powerful. Once, she somehow magicked Albus from the kitchen into the well. Another time, she vanished all of the food in the house. Then there was the time that she transfigured the cat into a book, and put him on the shelf. The transfiguration lifted only after the cat had died of starvation.
Aberforth and Mother didn’t see the problem. Albus wondered constantly what they might do to him if they thought it was necessary to protect Ariana. At least once, he had seen Abe thinking that it might be better to obliviate Albus – to make him forget his family altogether. That was not only unfair, it was dangerous – there would be too much to erase – Albus might lose more than just his family identity.
So here he was again – “home” for the summer, living alone with two (maybe three) dangerous people. And in a new town, so no landmark, no faces were familiar. Each person Albus encountered would need to be read to determine if they were a Muggle or not, if they had heard of his family or not – if they were safe or not. This summer – like every summer – was looking to be lonely and exhausting.
Still, the house in Godric’s Hollow was alright, Albus supposed. Each person had their own bedroom, which was nice, and there was enough space in the garden for his mother’s herbs and flowers and Ariana’s chickens, without resorting to extension charms. Albus had a corner room, with windows on two sides: one looking towards his neighbor’s attic, and two more on the front of the house, overlooking the village square. It was better than his last room, which had been dark, with one tiny north-facing window.
His mother had moved to Godric’s Hollow in March, when he and Aberforth were in school. There had been another incident. Ariana had expelled the entrails of a Muggle neighbor’s cow. Accidentally of course. Why his mother continued to settle them in mixed towns was beyond Albus’s comprehension. Did she not realize that living with Muggles had been what had caused their problem in the first place?
At least the Muggles in these mixed villages had become somewhat accustomed to strange happenings, unlike the Muggles in Whitston Green – the village the Dumbledores had been living in when Ariana was attacked. It was the village where his mother had grown up – where her family still lived. It had been nice living near his grandparents, but his parents had failed to appreciate the danger of living on a Muggle street. Maybe they became complacent, what with Albus and Aberforth having had no incidents. The whole “the youngest gets away with anything” syndrome. But of course, Ariana hadn’t gotten away with it. There was a reason Mother had hovered over the boys on the rare occasions when they were not hidden away indoors.
Immediately after the attack, Mother had obliviated all Muggle witnesses and moved the family to a mixed town: Mould-on-the-Wold. But as Ariana’s condition worsened, and it became clear that she was unlikely to recover, Father became fixated on the boys responsible. He went back to Whitston Green one night, and tortured them. Cruciatus. He had said that he was stepping out to the pub - no one in the family knew where Father had really been until the next day, when Aurors came to arrest him. Father refused to explain himself. Mother understood that he was trying to protect Ariana, so from then on, the entire family fell into line. Without ever discussing it, the Dumbledores committed themselves to secrecy – to hiding Ariana and her condition.
The Dumbledore family didn’t talk about anything, really. Not anything important. Albus and Aberforth had never been told what had happened to Ariana – they only knew what they had overheard: “attacked… neighbors… only children…” Nor had they been told that she had lost control of her magic – though that was obvious enough, living with her. They didn’t discuss Ariana at all, beyond, “Ariana picked the flowers on the table,” or “Ariana prefers rice,” or “Shh! Don’t wake Ariana!” And no one ever spoke of Father, though Albus remembered the day of his arrest clearly.
Among the things not to be mentioned were the moves. Mother never gave notice before moving, and she never said why. Just an owl with, “Last week, we moved to Ottery St. Catchpole.” Or Tinworth, or Chudley, or now, Godric’s Hollow. Albus was tired of moving. Arguably it didn’t affect him terribly, because it always happened when he was at school, and he only lived at home for three months out of the year. But this was the fourth time coming back to a new house since he had started Hogwarts, and it was disorienting.
Of course, Albus knew why they moved. Kendra kept Ariana under a strong Notice-Me-Not charm, but it was not always possible to hide her magic. If the neighbors began to be suspicious – when the neighbors began to be suspicious – the Dumbledores moved.
But it wasn’t until he perfected his Legilimency that he understood why Mother was so committed to hiding Ariana. He saw her discussion with Father – it couldn’t have been long after the move to Mould-on-the-Wold – Mother said that she feared that Ariana would never recover, and Father said, “Of course she won’t!” Then he said that if she was admitted to St. Mungo’s, the family would never see her again.
Who were Mother and Father to declare that Ariana was a hopeless case? Were they Healers? No. If they had taken her to St. Mungo’s at the start, they might have found a cure, or at least a treatment, or (as a last resort) a way to bind her magic – to make her effectively a Squib. It would be a loss, to be certain – but at least she would not be accidentally killing cows and shattering windows and setting fields on fire.
But even if she were to be made to stay in a ward for the rest of her life, no one could keep them from seeing her. No matter where they lived on the island, they could floo to St. Mungo’s - they could visit Ariana every day, if they wanted to! It might be less cruel of an option than constantly moving a mentally unstable girl from place to place. As things stood, she would be confined to the house for the rest of her life – or sometimes escaping the house and terrorizing livestock. Without anyone trying to solve the problem, her accidental magic would never be under control.
All of this moving, all of these lies, all of this inconvenience – he blamed the Muggle boys, sure. But his family was also to blame. It was their choice to deal with this tragedy by turning inwards – by isolating themselves.
Mother knocked on the door, interrupted Albus’s ponderings. “What do you think of your room, Albus?”
“It’s – quite nice, Mother. Thank you. I’m enjoying the view.”
Kendra laughed, “From your bed, Albus?”
He rolled his eyes, and offered half a smile. “I was enjoying the view. Now I am enjoying a think.”
“I imagine you miss your friends…”
He rolled over and sat on the edge of his bed.
“I live in Slytherin House nine months out of the year. Coming home is always – an adjustment.”
Albus always tried to avoid lying to his mother. Everything he told her was true – he just… neglected to mention that he didn’t really have friends, per se. Allies, like-minded dinner companions, study partners, symbiotic relationships… Yes. Friends? No.
It did not occur to Albus that his mother communicated with him in exactly the same way. He himself lived by the very secrecy of which he complained.
“I thought you might enjoy visiting our next door neighbor. I hate for you to be stuck in the house all day. I know Aberforth and I are not sufficient company for you.”
Albus did not respond. He was tempted to lie back down, just to show his contempt for the idea of visiting this unknown person. Mother was always trying to introduce him to people, and it rarely bore fruit. Serendipity had proved to be a much better matchmaker than his mother.
“She’s not your age – she’s in her sixties – but she is a witch. Very scholarly. A wicked sense of humor.”
“Mother…”
“She told me she read your article in Transfiguration Today. Something about animals?”
“Trans-species Transfiguration.”
“That’s it!”
Of course it was. Obviously Albus would know what he had written about. Nevertheless, he kept his annoyance from showing on his face.
Neither Kendra nor Albus mentioned that he had never told her that he had been submitting articles to academic journals – much less that he had been published.
“So – Madam Bagshot was quite impressed. She asked to meet you.”
Well. Tea with Madam Bagshot might be worthwhile after all. She would not be looking to be friends, but to be, perhaps, collaborators. Or at least, she might serve as a reference, an introduction into academic circles outside of Hogwarts. Madam – a witch with a mastery living right next door. Albus was beginning to think he was going to like living in Godric’s Hollow. He tried not to think about the inevitable ignominious flight from the village. Perhaps that would be a long time off, this time.
“Alright, Mother. I’ll send her an owl.”
Kendra laughed. “She is right next door, Albus. And she said that you are welcome to drop by any time.”
Albus knew that no one actually meant that. Madame Bagshot would be put out if he arrived at three in the morning, for instance.
Albus went to cast a Tempus, but he couldn’t find his wand. Right. In the drawer. He wouldn’t be 17 for another two and a half months. He sighed.
“What time is it, Mother?”
“Half past four.”
When did she have dinner? Early – as early as 5? Or later, as his family did? Impossible to guess.
“I’ll drop by tomorrow then. About two, probably.”
Kendra smiled and nodded, then turned to walk out the door.
Albus called after her, “Thank you, Mother.”
Albus was thankful – thankful that his mother was thinking about him – about his boredom and his need to be around people. He was too much of an extrovert to enjoy the isolated life his family led. And somehow, his mother had noticed. It was easy for him to forget that she noticed anyone but Ariana.