(a Harry Potter Fanfiction – beware of DH-spoilers)

I still could not believe it when I walked through the door. Abe pulled the key out of the keyhole and carefully locked the door from the inside before he turned to me. “I´ll have to look after my sister,” he said. “Would you please wait here until I´m back?”
I nodded, and he sprinted down the stairs into the cellar. In the meantime, I took a good look around this house which hardly any people ever had entered. All in all, it gave me the impression of beauty but also slight neglect, as if it had not been carefully cleaned for some time.  A magnificent marble staircase led to the upper levels, but it look a bit dusty, and so did the expensive tapestry on the walls. The chandelier hanging form the topmost ceiling was golden but also full of wax and decorated with a single spider-web. Between two doors, opposite the staircase, a big painting on the wall showed the Dumbledore family, but the moment I decided to move closer, I heard Aberforth's footsteps on the stairs to the cellar. Sighing inside my head, I turned around and found him smiling.
“She's still sleeping,” he told me, and together we carried the bags from the apothecary's, the baker's, the butcher's – and the tailor. He had collected another fashionable suit for Albus, new trousers for himself and, after both Abe and the tailor had insisted on it, bought me a new dress, which was light blue, rather simple but quite nice. Abe had paid it for me in spite of my protests, but I promised myself to return the money as soon as possible.
After we had stored the buyings properly, and we both realised that he needed a new excuse to make my stay, Abe said: “Er... do you play wizard chess?”
I shook my head. “I know how to do it but I don´t have my own chessmen,” I explained. “And it does not work with someone else's, I heard.”
“Oh, it does,” replied Abe, “but it could get a bit tricky to make them do what you want.” He smiled. “I think we've some unused ones upstairs. We can look for them, and them we'll try to play a game, what do you think?”
I nodded, keen on seeing more of the house, and we marched back to the staircase, moved up the greyish white steps, and finally reached the first floor. An old carpet muffled the sound of our footsteps as we walked on, until Abe opened a door that had stood ajar, and entered the room behind. I followed, nervous and excited, but in there was nothing but a four-poster bed, a cabinet and a writing desk in front of the window. Of course I recognised the school books immediately – this must be Abe's bedroom. He opened a drawer and showed me a polished wooden box that bore the words “Wizard Chess Set” – in fact, it was the only thing in here that wasn't slightly covered in dust.   
“That's mine,” he said and put it on the bed. “It was a Christmas present from my mother.”
And suddenly he started to cry. But when I tried to touch him, to comfort him, he kept me in distance, wiping his face.
“Sorry, it's just... I...”
“Abe, it's okay. I know... I can imagine what that must do to you. Shall I... shall I go?”
He shook his head. “I can't stand being alone here any more,” he admitted. Then, suddenly, he smiled  sadly, saying: “And anyway, we wanted to play, didn't we?”
I laughed helplessly and agreed.   
Unfortunately, we were interrupted by the sound of the opening front door. Abe shot upwards an ran downstairs, and I followed, as the look on this face frightened me.
When I reached the entrance hall, Albus had just locked the door behind him, looking as great as ever. Aberforth was waiting for him, standing on the second last step of the stairs.
“You are late,” he said.
“It´s new for me that you are the ruler in this house now,” Albus replied, hanging up his cloak at the coat rack. I noticed that he pulled his wand out of the pocket and put it into his belt.
“As long as I am the head of the household, it's my business where I spend my time, Abe.”
Then he noticed me, and for a moment he looked shocked.
“What in hell...”
“Not happy that we've a guest?” Abe asked, and I heard his sarcastic smile. “Ashamed that the house is going to the dogs while you're having world-changing discussions?”
“Discussions you´d never understand,” said Albus, who seemed to have regained his composure,  and shrugged. “So you don´t have to be jealous and try to anger me with your childish behaviour.”
“Childish?” echoed my friend, now sounding slightly angry. “I would say it´s childish to buy yourself a new suit every week! Why don't you spend your money, time and magic for managing the household you are so proud to be head of, eh?”
“I don´t think it's much work, keeping the house clean,” snorted Albus, giving the dust a amused look, “but as I see, it seems to be too much for you...”
Aberforth clenched his fists, but Albus continued, enraging himself while he spoke: “By the way, I am wasting my time in a deadly boring job to earn money – money you had no problem with when you bought your little affair a dress!”
“LITTLE AFFAIR?” Abe shouted, drawing his wand. “Apologise!”
“Or you'll do what?” asked Albus, smiling disparaging, but nevertheless he pulled out his wand, too.
“Don't do this!” I cried, and both boys turned to me as if they had forgotten my presence.
“Abe, please, they´ll expel you!”
“How charming,” a new voice said sarcastically. “Young love. I wonder who of you two failures is brave enough to die for the other?”
“Gellert!” Albus cried, lowering his wand and hugged his best friend. I thought I´d get sick.
“How did you get in? I sealed the door!”
“Climbed through the oriel window,” Gellert grinned. “I heard little Aberforth arguing with you and thought you might welcome some additional authority.”
“Piss off!” Abe shouted. “We don´t need you here, you damn arrogant bastard! Albus,” he turned to his brother furiously, “I don't care about school, I´d stay here looking for Ariana if you don't give anything about us any more, but throw this – this piece of crap out of our family's house!”
“Piece of crap?” Gellert shouted, immediately drawing his wand. “Take care of who you insult here, boy!”
“What's happening here?” asked a terrified voice. I turned my head, and even Gellert stopped and looked curiously to the stairs. A girl was standing at the topmost step of the stairs to the cellar, dressed in a white nightgown, with light blonde hair and a surprisingly white skin. This must be Ariana Dumbledore, the girl nobody had ever seen, as she was said to be seriously ill. But she didn't look ill at all; in fact, she seemed to be in perfect health.
“Abe, who are these people? What is happening here?” she asked, terrified, nearly crying in fear.
“Shh, Ariana, don't get upset,” he tried to calm her, and Albus said: “Ariana, go back to your bedroom! This is nothing for you to witness!”
“Correct,” added Gellert, and he attacked Aberforth at the very same moment, when he wasn't expecting an attack at all. “Nobody insults me, especially not an second class wizard like you. Nobody may stand between us and our career. It's for the Greater Good. Crucio!”   
And everything seemed to happen at the same time. My blood seemed to freeze, and as Aberforth fell on his back,  terribly screaming with pain, wincing with his arms and legs, I shrieked. The same did Ariana, covering her mouth with her hands, her eyes wide open in horror; Albus shouted: “No!” and aimed a spell on Gellert which missed him by an inch, because Albus's hand was shaking so much – and hit me instead.
The moment I was knocked over, I realised that it was the full Body-Bind Curse.
That was the most terrible thing in the world for me: Hearing  them shouting, seeing the flashes and jets of light that blasted holes into the walls, but being unable to help.
All I know is that suddenly the noise of the battle died away. For one moment, I just heard heavy breath, and then, a heart-piercing scream of horror; hurried footsteps, the sound of a wand that fell onto the floor, and at last, Aberforth's voice.
“No...” he whispered hoarsely, and then he started to shout, and I could hear that he was crying. “NO! Ariana! NOOOO!”
I could hear other footsteps but they stopped immediately when, judging by the noise, Abe grabbed his wand again. “Leave me alone, Albus,” he hissed, an I could hear the incredible pain in his soul through the sound of his voice. “I don't know if it was me or one of you who cast the curse, but I know that without him she... she'd be alive!”
And then he broke into tears again, and I saw another jet of light, which hit me into the chest and relieved the Body-Bind Curse. Albus saw into my eyes, saw all the things I could not express, and so did I: This incredible blue eyes were full of pain, and a guilt that multiplied it.
Without another word, and without a look back, I fled through the blackened hole where the door once had been, my soul and mind in chaos.      

characters, names and places belong to JK Rowling – except Lysandra Potter, who is my invention, as a sort of Harry's great-aunt or something.