Ariana: A Harry Potter FanFiction

Chapter Seventeen

Ariana stood behind the couch, facing the fireplace, clutching the back with an iron grip. She’d been standing there for hours, waiting relentlessly. Today’s the day, she thought, They’re coming home today. I’ll finally be with my brothers again.

            With a poof, an emerald flame appeared in the fireplace, and Aberforth stepped out, coughing as if he’d accidentally breathed in Floo Powder.

            “Ab!” Ariana screeched, and before he could even drop his luggage, she was there, with her arms around his neck.

            “Ariana!” he shouted, nearly falling backwards in shock. He hugged her back, and when she pulled away her smile stretched from ear to ear, and he couldn’t help but laugh.

            Albus came through next, and Aberforth and Ariana had to move away from the fireplace to let him into the house. He dropped his bags onto the floor, and Kendra came in from the kitchen, grinned, and rushed to hug her boys.

            “I see Mrs. Doge let you use her Floo Powder after all,” she said, her arms around Albus.

            “Of course she did,” Albus replied, “You really should learn to trust me, Mum.”

            “Oh, you know how mothers are,” Kendra said, pulling away from him. They were nearly the same height, Albus barely an inch shorter than his mother. “Always worrying about their babies.”

            Albus smiled and looked at Ariana. His eyes widened. “My, how you’ve grown!”

            Ariana, who hadn’t thought about it, looked to Albus and their mother, and then to Aberforth, and realized that she was taller than him. Only a little, but it was surprising enough. “Aberforth, did you shrink?”

            “No,” he said indignantly, crossing his arms over his chest with a pout.

            “She grew so much,” Kendra commented, “I’ve had to mend so many of her dresses over the year, because she got too big for them.”

            “I’m almost as tall as you, Albus,” Ariana noticed and grinned.

            “You are not!” Albus cried, his voice cracking at ‘not.’ Aberforth and Ariana laughed, and he flushed with embarrassment. Kendra chuckled and ruffled his hair, saying, “Come, children, you’re supper is almost ready.”

            “Mummy, can’t I show Ab the kids?” Ariana asked, plastering on her biggest, sweetest smile.

            Kendra could never resist that smile. She nodded, saying, “Hurry along, though. You won’t want your food to get cold.”

            Ariana squealed and took Aberforth’s hand, leading him to the back door and to the goat pen. Excitedly, she told him all about the baby goats, and how adorable they were, and how one of them loved her so much it always tried to follow her into the house. Aberforth listened happily, beaming as his sister told him everything that had happened since he’d left—which was surprisingly little.

            “So,” she asked, taking the bag of feed off its peg, “How was school?”

            “Oh, it was fantastic!” he said, leaning against the fence and looking down at a little kid, its fur a mash of brown and white speckles. “The staircases moved, and the portraits talked, and candles floated and everything was spectacular and brilliant and—”