Aberforth didn’t like Gellert Grindelwald. He didn’t like his smug face, he didn’t like how he seemed to look down on him and he especially didn’t like how much of Albus’ time he was taking over.
“I can’t believe they have hidden in Albus’ room again!” He complained at Ariana who he was eating lunch with. “They could at least have the decency to stay where I can see him!”
Ariana gave him a small smile and nodded but didn’t say anything.
“What is that even supposed to mean: They need to concentrate to test a spell?” Aberforth continued. “They can concentrate down here just as well.”
Ariana looked at him with a slightly raised eyebrow but still didn’t interrupt his rant.
“You know what?” Aberforth stood up. “I’m going upstairs and tell Albus he needs to at least do the dishes since WE did all the cooking and keeping the house clean for days now!”
“Are you sure…?” Ariana started in a soft voice but Aberforth was already five steps up the stairway. She shook her head. “Boys!”
By now Aberforth had reached the door of the study, ripped it open and saw: Albus bent completely over a table with his shirt off and Gellert Grindewald bending over him.
“BY MERLIN’S BEARD!” Aberforth immediately threw the door closed again and fled back down the stairs.
Ariana looked at him; now both eyebrows raised. “Is everything…”
“DON’T ASK!” Aberforth shouted. “If you want to find me: I’m in the bathroom washing my eyes with soap.”
Seconds later Albus ran down the stairs after him. “Aberforth, it’s not what it looked like!”
As he came down he frowned at only seeing Ariana. His sister gave him a small smile and pointed at the bathroom door. Albus gave her a big smile and a small hug back. “Sorry your siblings can be such morons.” Then he walked over to the bathroom door. It was locked so he knocked and shouted: “Aberforth, it wasn’t what it looked like.”
“He was bent over you!” Came a shout out of the bathroom.
“We were reading the same book.” Albus answered.
“You shirt was off.”
“It’s like thirty degrees outside!” Albus answered who indeed looked quite sweaty.
The bathroom door opened a small crack and Aberforth looked out. “You swear you didn’t have sex at dad’s old study table?”
Albus smiled back. “I swear!”
Aberforth opened the door the rest of the way and rubbed at his head nervously. “Fine. But I better never catch you in such a position again.”
The Dumbledore’s estate had several stables connected to the house with a few barn animals. Aberforth especially liked the goats and since Albus wasn’t really interested in animals it was mostly Aberforth’s responsibility to take care of them.
The bigger was his surprise as he heard his brother’s voice coming from the wooden stall next to him as he was feeding his favourite goat Berta followed by a few giggles.
Aberforth could only make out the words: “You’re heavy!”
Then he turned the corner to see Gellert Grindelwald lying on top of his brother in the hay.
“ARGH, NOT AGAIN!” Aberforth spun around and walked away as fast as he could.
“Aberforth!” Albus shouted after him. “Wait, it’s not… We just slipped on the floor.”
Aberforth turned around with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow. “You just slipped, did you?”
Grindelwald had picked himself of the ground by now and gave Aberforth a smirk. “It’s very slippery in here.” Aberforth would have swore it was sarcasm under his thick accent.
“OUT. OF. MY. BARN!” Aberforth pointed to the door.
“Right, sorry.” Albus was straightening his jacket with nervous fumbling as he rushed out the door. “Sorry.”
Gellert followed a step behind. Aberforth looked after them and sighed.
Aberforth didn’t like leaving Ariana alone in the house even for a minute but his useless brother had vanished again and he needed to find him because one of them needed to go into the village before it got dark to get some more bread and eggs.
He grumbled to himself as he pulled his cloak closer to himself and stamped a few times to warm up. His gaze was wandering through the thick woods surrounding the house which made it hard to make out where Albus could have gone. And suddenly Aberforth more or less ran into Albus pressed against a tree being held in place by Grindewald’s hands at both sides of his face and his mouth on his.
“Are you going to tell me that is something other than it looks like to?” Aberforth growled.
Grindelwald let go of Albus and smirked at Aberforth like the cat that got the cream. “I don’t know what does it look like?”
Even in the twilight of the woods you could see the blush on Albus’ cheeks but his brother had the usual set to his chin he always had when he was being stubborn. “It was just a kiss, Ab.”
“I don’t care!” Aberforth growled. “What I care about is that we need some fucking bread. How about you take your boytoy over there down to the village unless you don’t want breakfast tomorrow.” He turned around. “I need to go back to Ariana!”
“Better I come along with you anyway, Albus.” Grindelwald said in an obnoxiously loud tone. “You British wouldn’t recognize good bread if it hit you in the face, Liebling.”
Aberforth groaned as he finally got out of ear-shot. This was a thing now. Oh god this was a thing now!
After their first kiss Albus and Grindelwald were even more connected at the hip. It was quite normal to go through the house and find them holding hands, giving each other small kisses or cuddling but to Aberforth greatest relief they mostly kept it away from Ariana. Still his sister wasn’t dumb and she knew something was going on. She had never communicated much and still didn’t but what she was saying and showing through body language seemed to show she was happy for her big brother. She and Grindelwald didn’t like each other especially but there was an unspoken tolerance between them for Albus’ sake.
Aberforth didn’t have anything like that. He couldn’t bear Grindelwald and let him know this fact at every opportunity:
“I think it’s time for your boytoy to return to his aunt, Albus, we wouldn’t want her to get worried.”
“Sorry, I only made enough food for four people; I guess you’ll need to find something down in the village, GELLERT.”
“Oh, I spilled ink on your new jacket Gellert, how clumsy of me!”
Around that time Aberforth was trying to get into the attic to hang up the laundry and the door was locked. Aberforth sighed, levitated the laundry basket next to him and knocked.
“Sorry, it’s locked.” Grindelwald’s voice came from the other side of the door sounding slightly strained.
“I noticed.” Aberforth answered. “Open the door!”
“I don’t think you really want that.”
“Open the fucking door, you german bastard!”
Aberforth raised his wand ready to blast the door open himself when it swung open revealing Albus kneeling in front of Grindwald who was leaning against a wall with his trousers down at his feet and…
NOPE!
Aberforth threw the levitating laundry at the two of them and stormed out.
This time Albus didn’t try to find him to explain.
“Ah! Gellert!”
Aberforth was trying his very best to bury his head into his arms and never come out again.
Ariana next to him put a comforting hand on his shoulder and said in her soft voice. “Maybe they just forgot the privacy spell.”
“HARDER!”
Aberforth growled. “Or that german ba… idiot just dispelled it again to prove to me that he has Albus twisted around his little finger.”
“Ja, Albus!”
“At least Albus sounds happy.” Ariana whispered. “I know it’s not easy with…” She pointed at herself.
“No!” Aberforth put his hands on his sister’s shoulder to make sure she listened. “Ariana, you’re the light of my days, the best sister I could ever wish for. Don’t blame yourself because you’re… sick.”
Ariana smiled weakly. “Kind of you to say.”
“Oh, Oh, OH!”
“Your brother on the other hand…” Aberforth growled. “Is very, very sick and if he doesn’t watch himself I’m going to fucking murder him!”
Ariana giggled but then her face turned serious again. “Do you think he is going to leave us? Go away like he and Gellert always plan?”
Aberforth’s face darkened. “He better not even think about it!”
“My parents aren’t very happy.” Emily was still the prettiest girl Aberforth ever met even more so with her growing baby belly. “They won’t let me keep the baby.“ She looked grief-stricken even at the thought of it.
“Maybe I could take it?” Aberforth tried.
Emily shook her head. “You’ll have to return to Hogwarts in a few weeks just like I do, you can’t take him.”
Aberforth felt his eyes filling up with tears. “So what is going to happen to him?”
“They’ll claim me to be too sick to return to school until I give birth.” Emily answered. “And then send him to an orphanage in America.”
“America?” Aberforth repeated “But…”
Emily shook her head, tears running down her cheeks. “Don’t you understand? I brought shame on my entire family, we should be happy they let me carry the baby to turn at least.”
Aberforth had never felt as helpless as right now with his sick sister waiting in his family’s cellar, his child soon to be shipped to America and his parents dead.
Maybe Emily saw the grief and desperation in his eyes because she sighed and bend over to give him one last kiss on the lips. “I need to go. Thank you, for the wonderful summer I had even when it ended horribly.” She turned around and hurried away.
Aberforth was left standing alone in the small alleyway with tears running down his cheeks and a broken heart.
“She’s pretty.”
Aberforth spun around with his wand already drawn at whoever had snuck up on him. It was his brother. “Oh, Albus!” Aberforth used his sleeve to quickly wipe away his tears. “I… I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
He tried pushing past his brother and walk off but Albus took hold of his arm and spun him around.
“Aberforth!” Albus took a deep breath. “Ab, talk to me!”
Aberforth laughed without any humour in his voice. “Why? You never listen to me anyway!”
Albus strikingly blue eyes transfixed his own. “I’m listening now.”
And Aberforth broke down for the first time since his mother’s funeral. He started sobbing into his big brother’s arms telling him everything from falling in love with one of the girls in the village, to them sleeping together, to their anti-contraception spell failing and her parents wanting to get rid of the baby.
To Albus credit he didn’t try to interrupt him, he only held him close while solemnly listening. After Aberforth was finished Albus didn’t say anything for a good minute.
Finally he spoke up. “But you want to keep the baby?”
Aberforth shook his head. “I doesn’t matter, I can’t take him anyway. I need to go back to school!”
“I will take care of the baby!”
Aberforth looked up at Albus determined face with a frown. “You?”
“I’m your big brother.” Albus answered. “With mom and dad gone you’re my responsibility.”
“Al, you barely manage to take care of Ariana when I’m not here how are you gonna take care of a baby as well?”
Albus bit his lip. “Aberforth, I… I know I wasn’t the best big brother these last few months. I’m sorry. I just… with mom and dad gone I felt…”
“Trapped.” Aberforth said. “Kept away from your big dreams and career by your stupid little brother and sister.”
“I was the one being stupid.” Albus admitted. “I was but Aberforth… I love you and Ariana more than anything else in the world. And I’ll love my nephew just as much. If I can figure out the specifics of higher transmutation I’ll manage to figure out how to watch a baby.”
“And what about Grindelwald?”
Albus’ eyes became sad. “Gellert… Gellert will stay or he’ll go. However he decides I’ll accept it but I promise you, I’ll not leave you behind again.”
Grindelwald it turned out was not very happy at Albus’ decision. Albus had made sure to tell him outside of the house far away from Ariana’s ears and with Aberforth and Albus as a united front Gellert finally accepted his decision and left. Albus was heartbroken for months but refused to let it keep him away from his younger siblings again. He and Aberforth had many drunken nights lamenting about their lost lovers.
Emily birthed a healthy young boy and Albus managed to find an excuse for Aberforth to leave Hogwarts for the occasion. Emily’s parents weren’t very happy about it but with Albus promising to reveal their secret if they wouldn’t let Aberforth be there for the birth they relented. Emily christened the child Credence.
It wasn’t easy for Albus alone with his sick sister and a baby but he managed. Ariana proved to be astonishingly good with the Credence. Even when he didn’t stop screaming she never had any of her magical fits.
Once Aberforth was finished with school he returned to the house and helped Albus as good as he could. Together they managed.
It was a year after Grindelwald left that he appeared again. Albus was overjoyed and even more heartbroken when he left again. Months later he again visited the house. Aberforth never said much to him and Grindelwald returned the favour. Everyone knew that Albus was hoping that one day Grindelwald would stay with him.
Who knew? Maybe one day he would.