Blood and water

Albus Dumbledore was a lonely man. He lived a rather eventful life, trying to protect the Boy Who Lived, as well as his school and the students who resided in it. 

His mother barely paid any attention to him when he was little. 

His sister died young, and his brother hated Albus for it. 

Ariana’s twin sister, Audrey, had tried her best to maintain peace among her brothers until she reached 17 when the pain of losing her twin had finally sunk in. 

Albus had regretted three things in his life. 

Letting Geller’s ideology get as far as it did while following his lead blindly, starting the fight which ended in Ariana’s death and watching Audrey leave without looking back.

He was not on talking terms with Aberforth, and had only seen his sister once, at their father’s funeral wearing a black dress next to a tiny child who clung onto Audrey’s hand for dear life. 

He sat down with them at his office and learned that the girl was his niece, the youngest of and newest addition to the Dumbledore family.

“I met someone and fell in love.” Audrey said. She looked at her daughter tenderly. And now, I have a loving husband and a beautiful little girl.” The child giggled and looked at Albus with wide brown eyes. 

“Momma says you can do magic!” She exclaimed. He smiled. “Would you like to see?” He asked mischievously. She nodded eagerly. He took her hand and clenched her fist. He winked at her and withdrew his hands. “Open them.” He said. 

She was almost bouncing in excitement as she unclenched her fist, revealing a paper swan whose wings fluttered as it took off and flew around the room. Her eyes did not leave the swan as it burst into fireworks. She laughed. “Pretty!” 

“What’s your name, little one?” Albus asked curiously. She grinned toothily. “Alina Starkov.”

Albus found out later while attempting to find her name in the Book of Students Eligible for Attending Hogwarts that she did not have magic. He was disappointed at first, but decided to accept it. 

Until he was told that little Alina had so much more than just magic.

He had not seen any of his relatives since his father’s funeral. Both siblings had informed him that they were happy to keep it that way. 

So imagine his surprise when Albus opened his front door, expecting to see Severus with news about Voldemort, and instead stared at a short girl who had a desperate expression on her face. 

She was obviously being hunted, judging the way she constantly looked over her shoulder. There was no questioning who she was. She was the replica of her mother, apart from her brown eyes. There was, however, only one question in his mind. Why was his niece being hunted?

“Um, can I come in?” She asked nervously. He silently cursed himself. “Where are my manners? Do come in, child.” He stepped aside and let her in, before wandlessly strengthening the wards around his house and closing the door.

“Alina dear, it is very nice to see you after so many years, but perhaps better circumstances would have been a finer way to meet you again.” He said. He poured her tea and settled her down, offering her a lemon drop. She took it.

“So you know who I am then, Unce Albus.” She said quietly. He smiled. “What I do not know, though, is who you are hiding from, and why you are hiding from them.” He said kindly. She looked at her tea. 

“I know of your powers, Alina. That you are a Sun Summoner. That your mother hid you because she knew that you would be used by bad people, terrible people who are willing to do anything to achieve their goals. To get power.” He said. She looked him in the eye.

“My mother died saving me. I hid as a normal soldier for three years. Long story short, I was found, brought to a palace, engaged to a prince, trained by a hag and controlled by her son who wanted to use me for my powers. So I ran. And here I am.” 

She chuckled nervously. “Mom had me memorise your address and told me to go to you whenever I was in trouble.” 

“And she did well to ask you to find me. I will protect you, my child. The ones hunting you down shall not find you unless they manage to get through me. And I can assure you that I am rather powerful.” He winked. She smiled. 

“Thank you, Uncle Albus.”

Alina’s mother had always talked about her family, and especially about Uncle Albus and all of the brave things he had done. 

“He saved the wizarding world, but at the expense of his best friend and his own family.” Her mother told her sadly. “Remember that family comes before anything.”

That was the only reason why she came to her uncle, whom she had seen once before.

Alina slept well for the first time in six months. Her uncle had led her to one of the guest rooms and told her that it was now her room to use. 

He assured her that she could do whatever she wanted with it, be it decorate it or tear the walls down if she disliked the colour white. It was plain, simpler and smaller than the rooms at the palace, but it felt cosier.

She could never get to the grand bedroom the King provided her with, nor the one Aleksander had her move into after insisting that the room was not good enough for her. 

Uncle Albus had firmly told her that she was to go to one of his ‘safe houses’ with him because there was a war brewing in the Wizarding World, and he did not want to leave her alone. 

After four days of getting to know him and what was going on in his world, they packed their things and left for the Burrow.

They travelled using what Uncle Albus called a Portkey, which was a pristine cooking book that had clearly not been touched for ages. 

“I do not have the luxury of spending time doing leisure activities.” He explained sheepishly. “Cooking for one’s meal doesn’t sound like a leisure activity, but rather a necessary one.” She muttered. 

They appeared in front of a large house a few seconds later. Her uncle went in and held the door for her.

“Do not fear, young Alina. These people do not bite.” He said, his eyes twinkling in amusement at her obvious discomfort. It had been ages since she was around people. She scowled and dragged her luggage in.

A plump woman was waiting in the kitchen with a warm smile on her face. “Dumbledore!” He chuckled. 

“It has been too long, Molly. Where are the rest?” He asked. “Ron, Harry and Hermione are in Fred and George’s room. The children are with them, and the rest  are having a meeting in the common room. Is this the girl you mentioned?” She asked. 

“This is my niece, Alina.” She smiled nervously at Molly, who beamed at her. “Such a pretty child! I’ll be happy to have you around to brighten the mood. My children get rather loud with new people.” She said, engulfing her in a hug. 

“Louder, you mean.” A man muttered. Alina had not seen him come in. He had greasy black hair and looked as if he had just come back from a funeral. He scowled. “So now we have another child to add to the noise. Excellent.” He said sarcastically. 

“Now, now, Severus. Don’t be so rude in front of Alina.” Molly reprimanded him. He rolled his eyes. 

“She does not look like a child.” He observed. No one said anything about this. “Well, it’s time to meet the children! Come with me, darling. I'll show you around.” Molly tried to brighten the mood. Alina nodded. They left the kitchen.

Molly brought her up the stairs and into one of the rooms. “I'm afraid you’ll have to share a room with Ginny and Hermione. There isn’t a lot of room here.” She flushed. 

Alina took her hand. “It’s wonderful and more than enough, Ms Molly.” She assured her. Molly smiled. “Only if my sons were half as polite as you are. It’s Mrs Weasley.” She said. 

She brought Alina to another room after unpacking her things. “Children!” The boys immediately sat up and hid something behind their backs. Were those… ears? 

“This is Alina, Professor Dumbledore’s niece. She’ll be staying with us for a while. I have to go now. Be nice, please!” She called as she made her way down. 

Six people stared at her as she blinked. One of the girls stood up and put her hand out. “I’m Hermione.” She said kindly. Alina shook it. “I’m Alina… but you already knew that.” She concluded. The pair of twins laughed. “I like her.” They chorused in perfect sync. 

“So, you’re Dumbledore’s niece? I didn’t even know that he had siblings!” Ron exclaimed. Hermione rolled her eyes. “Ron, everyone knows that Professor Dumbledore has a brother and sister.” She said in a matter-of-fact tone. 

“Had.” Alina said quietly. “My mother died a few years ago.” They fell silent. 

“Welcome to the club!” Harry said in a poor attempt to lighten the mood. Hermione kicked his shin. “Ow! What was that for!” Harry asked. She glared at him. “You really have no tact at all, do you?” She asked. He shrugged. 

“So are you like a squib? I’ve never seen you at Hogwarts, and I’m pretty sure Dumbledore would have insisted his niece go to his school.” Ron said. “She has an American accent, Ron. She could be from IIvermorny.” Hermione pointed out. 

Alina concluded that she was the brains of the group. “Well, I don’t have magic, but I am a Grisha.” She said. The boys looked at each other in confusion while Hermione gawked at her in awe. 

“You’re a Grisha? Merlin, I never thought I’d live to see one!” She exclaimed excitedly, turning to her friends. They stared back at her blankly.  She smacked her head. 

“Are you serious?” She asked frustratedly. “No, I’m not.” Harry muttered. 

“Harry was brought up in the muggle world so he has an excuse but you four are purebloods!” She scolded the redheads. “So, what’s a Grisha?” Ginny piped up curiously. “Basically people with powers.” Alina summarised. 

Hermione scoffed. 

“Not just any powers! Each Grisha specialises in a specific power. They can literally defy the laws of gravity.” Hermione gushed. “That sounds pretty cool.” Fred admitted. 

Hermione looked offended on Alina’s behalf and was clearly about to say something when Alina interrupted her. 

“It’s not really that great. The Shu experiments on Grisha, the Fjerdans hunt us down and burns any Grisha alive while the Ravkans see us as weapons to fight their wars for them.” She said dejectedly. Silence filled the room once again. 

“Wow. That sounds… not so cool.” George observed and ducked, correctly predicting that Hermione would attempt to smack his head. “So what are your powers?” Ginny asked. They looked at her eagerly. 

“Um, I think it would be better if you didn’t know. For your own good.” She added quickly. “There are people looking for me and the less you know, the safer you are.” She said quietly. The mood was gloomy. 

“Well, if it makes you feel better, there’s a noseless nut job going after Harry.” Fred said in an attempt to comfort her. She looked at Harry with interest as he shrugged. 

“Voldemort. He killed my parents. And a lot of people.” He said in a surprisingly neutral voice. “He tried to kill Harry too, you know. When he was a baby.” George said. 

“When Harry was a First Year. One of our professors had him attached to the back of his head.” Ron added. 

“In his second year too. Voldemort sent a Basilisk after him.” Ginny said quietly. 

“When Harry was a Fourth Year, he and a few of his followers tried to kill him.” Fred added in a worryingly positive tone. Alina blinked.

“That sounds rather… concerning.” She said. “Don’t worry. It’s as if Harry has some kind of barrier around him. He is very hard to kill.” Hermione assured her. “Erm, thanks?” Harry said. 

Alina laughed as they turned to her in surprise. “Sorry, it’s just been a long time since I’ve been around people that aren’t plotting my death or deciding how to convince me to join them in their quest to rule the world.” She said, wiping a tear from her face. 

Harry sighed. “Tell me about it.”