Sweet Tooth | Albus Dumbledore

Chapter Five

Aberforth came in for dinner and cleaned himself up, sitting down. Ariana was staring at him thoughtfully.

"What is it?" He asked suspiciously.

"Have you ever considered shaving your eyebrows?" She enquired.

Aberforth's bushy eyebrows knitted together. "Not really. Why?"

"Just a suggestion," she said lightly. "It might make you a little more attractive."

Percival smiled, cottoning on. "Thinking about girlfriends, Aberforth?"

Aberforth gave a non – committal grunt.

"I'm sure Albus could give you a few tips, right Al? I bet you're a hit with the girls at Hogwarts."

Albus looked down at his food, his face burning.

Percival laughed. "Keeping it coy, eh? I'd say you're a chip off the old block."

"Oh leave the boy alone, Percival, he's gone red," Kendra put in, and Albus was sure he had never been more grateful to his mother in his life. He hated this. He hated being the eldest, he hated looking like his father, he hated being the one Percival liked to compare to him.

Though Albus was like him in looks – tall, lanky and auburn haired – Ariana was more like him in personality. But it had seemed all his life that Percival was convinced Albus was just like him, and he knew that nothing he could ever do would make him think otherwise.

"I'm coming with you today," Ariana announced the next morning.

Albus stared. "What? Why?"

"Because Mum told me she doesn't want me anymore," she said venomously, glaring at Kendra, who sighed and put down her toast.

"I didn't say that, Ariana. I said you're my daughter and I love you but sometimes you give me a splitting headache and I'd like a break."

"Still," she said, stabbing her scrambled egg with her fork. "At this rate I might as well run away. It's clear I'm not wanted."

Aberforth nodded glumly. "I'll come with you."

"What's wrong with you?"

"Pa wants me to do some of the shed. We can run away to the South Pole."

Ariana nodded. "And live with the penguins. At least they'll appreciate me."

Kendra raised her eyes to heaven. "Are all of my children drama queens? Aberforth, a bit of hard work will do you good. Ariana, you're being ridiculous. I only suggested it because you've been cranky all morning and said you hate staying here all day. Albus, please do me a favour and bring her with you."

Albus nodded, and she smiled at him in relief. "Good lad. I can always count on you."

Ariana glared. "That's sexism and favouritism, actually. No wonder I've got issues. I'm neglected and starved of love. I shall write a book in the future about my childhood and people will weep at the hardship."

Kendra massaged her forehead. "What time are you going, Al?"

Albus, who hadn't intended on going until after lunch, hurriedly pushed back his chair and put his bowl into the sink. "As soon as Ariana's ready."

Ariana lost a little of her attitude when they went outside. Really, Albus found her teenage dramas funny, when they weren't annoying.

"I will run away, you know," she said, lifting the latch of the gate. "When I'm seventeen, I'll go off and stay at Mirabelle's, and then she won't be able to do a thing about it."

"Right," he said vaguely, always trying not to take sides. "Ariana – you will be polite, won't you?"

"Of course I will," she said, some of her bad humour slipping away. Albus walked up the path to the door and knocked, and she waited by his side.

"When you said he made sweets," she whispered. "What, like toffee and such?"

Albus smiled. "Just you wait."

The door was pulled open, not by the father or the grandparents, but by William himself, resplendent in a truly awful checked sweater vest and tan trousers. He was wearing two pairs of goggles, one over his eyes and another perched in his sandy hair. He made to push up the first pair and looked surprised when he found the other.

"Albus!" He said, with a bright smile. "And Ariana."

"I hope it's not a problem that I brought her," he said quickly. "It's just that she was doing Mum's head in."

"I'm right here, you know," Ariana crossed her arms. "I'm not deaf. Or a child."

"Of course it's all right."

There was something in the oven, and when he told them he was making his sweets, Ariana asked to taste them. Albus elbowed her, though he secretly was interested.

"Of course – better in the garden, though I think I've got it now."

He brought them out into the garden and gave them both a small piece of something black, which was warm in Albus' hand. Ariana cautiously nibbled and Albus hesitantly bit into it. It had a surprisingly pleasant taste – soft in the centre, sugary and so warm it felt like fire was building up in the back of his throat.

"What now?" he asked.

William beamed. "Perfect. Try and breathe fire."

"I'm sorry?"

"Just sort of exhale. Powerfully."

Ariana made a noise like she was suffering a severe asthma attack, and a few puffs of smoke emerged from her mouth. William looked a little disappointed. "Oh. Well perhaps they're not-"

Albus took a deep breath and exhaled, and was almost knocked backwards by the force of the fire emerging from his mouth. It was hot but not unpleasantly so, and a short burst. When it ended, William whooped in glee and clapped his hands, and Ariana laughed.

"How did it feel?" He asked eagerly. "Not too hot? Could you breathe?"

Albus found himself laughing with exhilaration. "Perfect temperature and I could breathe comfortably. I felt like a dragon!"

"What other sort of things do your sweets do?" Ariana asked.

William, who had taken crumpled parchment and bent quill from his pocket and was now using the windowsill like a desk, shrugged. "Depends," he said, licking the end of his quill and dipping it into a little bottle of ink, scrawling on the parchment.

"I've got stuff to make you happy, with elixir to induce euphoria in. I've got stuff to make someone you dislike projectile vomit –"

"Interesting," Ariana said with a gleam in her eye, and Albus, suddenly rather worried for Mrs Darcy's health, jumped in.

"But it stops?"

"Oh, yes yes," William said distractedly. "Stops after a few seconds, or it's supposed to. Thing is, I can't get the blasted time right so that last time I tested it I was vomiting for hours. Dad almost called it quits there and then and Nan made me promise not to test it again."

"You try them on yourself?" Albus asked.

"Of course. Can't go poisoning the postman or whoever – I say, could anyone estimate how long the fire breath lasted for?"

Ariana, who was rather good at maths, replied promptly. "About thirty three seconds, I'd wager."

"Good, good. Shorter than last time but then last time I burned the kitchen walls – oh I'm being a terrible host, aren't I?"

"Not really," Albus said, the same time as Ariana said, "Yes, but it's rather a hoot. You're just so strange."

"Ariana."

"I am, rather," he said, not sounding in the least offended as he rolled up . "They call me bonkers at Hogwarts. I suppose I am."

"I don't think you're bonkers," Albus said, a little shyly. "I think you're a genius."

William smiled at him, his lip pulling on the crooked tooth, and Albus was almost sure it was just for him. "Well you're the only one who does."