Ravenclaw's Blue Gem

"Sorry, I don't know..." Zoe said discouragedly, but she looked at the old man's face and suddenly had this intuition. Maybe she could go further and ask about him and Dumbledore's family and the past, Deng Blido would always choose to avoid these things. She hadn't been able to get any information from Aberforth before. This time since he took the initiative to speak, it might be a good sign.

"Can you tell me about your family?" she asked carefully, for fear that Aberforth might find her rude.

"Want to help my brother speak again?" Aberforth chuckled, "You should have given up long ago."

"He was injured before and his entire right arm became scorched." Zoe looked at the old man, "Do you know what this is all about?"

"I don't know." Aberforth said, "I never cared about what he did for his great benefit. I had any weird plans in my heart and wanted to hurt someone close to him... …I don’t want to make things uglier in front of you, but Zoe, I just want to tell you that he doesn’t care about your efforts, because he is such a person.”

"He's not." Zoe's voice cooled. "Perhaps you know Dumbledore, who I don’t know, but I know who he is better than you. I told you a few years ago. You give him a chance, why don't you want to talk to him?"

"Because I vowed not to forgive him for the bastard things he did. You said he changed, but what kind of guaranty do you want to prove this? I don't contact him privately, it doesn't mean I have nothing to him. Known."

"Just take everything in me. Even if Dumbledore has a side that I don't know, I want to believe that his care and love for me is sincere, and it is because of his protection that I can stand here like this! "Zoe did not back down and looked at Aberforth. She is now different from when she first met. She hopes to let Aberforth see this.

For a long time, "... come here." Aberforth glanced at the sitting girl and walked out from behind the counter.Zoe followed him to the customer's area, and the two came to the corner with a portrait on top of a blonde girl with a slightly blurred face.

"You are really a stubborn kid who doesn't listen to others." Aberforth sighed.

He pondered for a while, "Our family is a big family, which used to be. But you know, many wizard families have gradually fallen into disarray with the changes of the times. There were signs of this in my father’s generation, but they were still able to survive. A bit of dignity until he was thrown into Azkaban for assaulting Muggles."

"Attacking a Muggle?" Zoe didn't expect it to be because of this.

"Don't get me wrong, he doesn't hate Muggles, even people who don't know it." Aberforth's eyes seemed to be looking at a distant place, and there was a little sadness in his nostalgia.

"He just wanted to teach those bastards and help Arianna out of her breath." Aberforth sighed.

"Ariane?" Zoe sensed that he was getting deep into the core.

"It's her." Aberforth pointed to the quiet portrait of a young girl above her head. It won't be like the portraits of Hogwarts that move all the time. "Arianna Dumbledore. She is my sister. "

Chapter 31 Ariane Dumbledore (middle)

"Did you paint this yourself?" Zoe felt a little sure. The rough painter alone does not seem to be the first professional. "You didn't paint her face carefully."

"I have tried several times, but the details can't be done well anyway. I am not this material, and there is no way to reproduce the appearance of Arianna." Aberforth said calmly, "You are her foolish brother for Just remember the stupid things she did."

Zoe shook her head. She didn't think it was stupid to do so: "She must be a lovely girl."

"In the eyes of our family, this is indeed the case. Except for my brother, he is tired of her." The old man closed his eyes. "We just said that my father was thrown into Azkaban for attacking Muggles, but Outsiders never knew why he did this, nor did they know what those Muggle boys did to Ariane. They ruined her life. She was only six years old at that time.” Maybe it’s because dozens of years have passed. In 1970, Aberforth didn't show much pain when talking about this memory at first, but Zoe noticed that his fists were tightly clenched.

"Did she be..." Zoe asked softly.

"She was not dead. Although the Muggles beat and kicked her, they failed to kill her. To them, Arianna was a monster in human skin and needed to be vigilant at all times. Later they saw Ali. Anna got out of control, leaving her wounded and she ran over the fence and escaped." Aberforth's eyes were filled with cold anger, "She just sat in the yard trying to become magical. This is every year. The curiosity and experimentation that young wizards will have, it does not hinder others or harm anyone!"

"I found her when I was out to work, but soon we discovered that Arianna was sick, very sick, and a heart disease that could not be cured by any potions or spells. That brutality was for Arianna The damage caused by her heart is devastating. She can no longer control her magic power. Even at home, she has been trembling, afraid that someone will rush to hurt her, and whenever her mood fluctuates, those she Uncontrollable magic will run away, hurting people around her, and such damage always appears without warning."

"But for us, she is still the most precious treasure in the family. She is just out of control sometimes, but most of the time she is still the weak but gentle sister. It is not her fault that she will become like that, but Those bastards! If I hadn't been stopped by my father, and if I could be older, I would personally let the bastards know what regret is." If Dumbledore is angry, I usually give people. A sense of quiet majesty, then Aberforth's anger seemed much rude and wild.Zoe suddenly recalled Dumbledore's broken nose, and Aberforth certainly didn't just talk about it.

"After my father was in prison, we had to leave our original residence and settle down in a new place, because we were worried that the Ministry of Magic might come to the door. If they saw Arianna, they would not care whether she was a six The year-old girl would not care why she became like this, and would only lock her up for her loss of control."

"Perhaps for these officials, one person's future will never be as good as that of a whole group, but I don't care about the shit "International Secrecy Law". We moved in a hurry, and another half year or so passed, Ah I don’t want to go to Hogwarts to study." Aberforth sneered. You can't extricate yourself from these vanities and feel that you can get everything."

Zoe grabbed her robes and feet, she had always respected Dumbledore, listened to Aberforth's words, tried to refute countless times, but restrained herself from swallowing those words.She wanted to know the real Dumbledore, wanted to know the truth, not just as an admirer of Dumbledore, even then she would lose something.

"Albus was not interested in Ariane. From a very young age, he always ignored her existence. After she went crazy, he even omitted the usual steps of greeting, leaving only the scope of activities. Dining room and bedroom." Aberforth looked at Zoe. "Has my brother told you about his past?"

Zoe shook his head, but hesitated: "...Before I enrolled in school, he told me that he used to be arrogant and didn't have many friends. I always took these words to comfort me."

"Hey, he knows himself. I can find a dozen admirers of him, but those are all fools who are deceived by his polite manners. I promise if they hide in my house for less than three days. Brother would not be that gentle, polite, considerate and generous student in their hearts."

"Albus is very snobbish. He wants to build relationships with big figures in academia all day long. He keeps himself in the bedroom and writes letters to those scholars, hoping that he can gain a bit of their reputation, or let those People recognized his talents and became popular at Hogwarts. He has a good mind and knows how to put on airs. The room is full of awards and medals. I still remember that when he was in the fifth grade, he had to make grades every day. Wipe the long badge more than three times to ensure that it will reflect the most perfect brilliance when it stays on his neckline."

"He doesn't care about Muggles either. I think there may be a bit of hate. After all, it is because Muggles attacked Ariane that his body was stained. It was our father's imprisonment. If I one day I would not be surprised to hear Albus speaking for Muggles, or to hear the rumors that he started cleaning Muggles, because he would only treat them for his own benefit or a higher position of power."

Aberforth stopped talking. Of course he noticed Zoe's pale face: "If you feel uncomfortable, stop." The girl shook her head stubbornly and insisted that he continue talking.

"It would be okay if the days just pass by like this. Albus and I are not good, but we can still live under the same roof. He pursues his power. As long as I can continue to protect Ali Anna, just guard this house." Aberfors sighed in a daze, "But it was when Arianna was fourteen years old. I was not at home at the time. She lost control. Mother failed to calm her down. Other people, Albus was busy arranging to travel the world with his fool friend at that time, and didn't even bother to take a look at home...so my mother died and was killed by the out of control Ariana."

Zoe trembled. Even though the old man's tone was calm, she couldn't imagine the despair when it happened.If Dumbledore could stay at home and pay more attention to his family, would such a tragedy be prevented?She looked at Aberforth's eyes that were very similar to her, and found the same question there.

"I never thought about counting on him, so I couldn't blame him for this. Probably from then on, I was extremely disappointed with Albus, even if the last layer of film was not broken, but I no longer want to treat him as my family."

"Albus came back to attend the funeral of his mother. To my surprise, he chose to stay. Even if this family no longer needs him, I can take care of Ariane. I can live with her instead of letting Abu. Think this'stranger' joins in and fulfills the ridiculous responsibility of the housekeeper." Aberforth fell into the memory and laughed self-deprecatingly. "But he was very sincere at the time. He hoped that I could finish my studies instead of midway. Dropping out of school, he stayed to take care of Ariane and prop up the family. It was so nice, I actually believed it, and gave him Ariane... Can you imagine how stupid I was at that time, I even think He is not so cruel and ruthless, thinking about forgiving him a little bit in the future."

"But that just made Ariane more painful and killed her. I have no right to hate Albus, because I was also one of the murderers who killed Ariane. If I could calm down a little bit. , Instead of pulling out the wand so impulsively... I thought about it this way countless times later, but I can't go back anymore."

"You accidentally injured Dumbledore when you duel..." Zoe regretted that she shouldn't have forced Aberforth to uncover her scars.

"Yes, nor is it." Although Aberforth was in pain, he still didn't stop talking. He found a chair and sat down, as if he had lost the strength to stand. "I was arguing with that man. We looked at each other. It’s not pleasing to the eye. He thinks it’s because the existence of Ariane and I hindered Albus’s future. Without us, he would be completely free."

"He?" Zoe asked in surprise when he didn't expect other people's names to appear in the memory.

"Just a few weeks after Albus stayed at home, he came to Albus. They must have been in contact before that, a dangerous and terrible connection, those who worship my brother as a god People would never think that he and that man had such a past."

"With the man named Gellert Grindelwald." Aberforth gritted his teeth, looking at the stunned girl.

Chapter 32 Ariane Dumbledore (Part 2)

Hearing the name Gettler Grindelwald, Zoe’s first reaction was not shocked, as if the signpost that prompted her had pointed out a path to the truth a long time ago, but she didn’t understand it. The meaning of not advancing that way.But when Aberforth told her this fact, the sparks that remained in the embers of consciousness rekindled, guiding her back to the memories of the past.

That was already a conversation long ago.At the time she was keen to know everything about Dumbledore, especially those Dumbledore that she didn't know before she was born.She can find a lot of materials, but they are very complicated. Most of them are the papers that Dumbledore has published publicly, or in some chapters and paragraphs such as memoirs (for example, they mentioned him and Nicol LeMay, Bathilda Bagshot , Adbe Waughlin and other magical masters), newspaper news (both old and new), and even the wizard card included in the Chocolate Frog, you can find him.

But the Dumbledore that Zoe knows about is not a person who likes to be pushy. Every day, several owls bring letters to invite him to attend the party, but unless he must attend the occasion, he prefers to stay in his office, even if It was a chess game with Zoe. Whoever loses will use paint that is hard to wash off.

Apart from that series of dazzling titles, one of Dumbledore’s greatest achievements that could never be bypassed was the duel with Grindelwald in 1945. He defeated Grindelwald and prevented the previous generation. Crazy ambition of the Dark Lord.After Grindelwald was defeated, the flames of war in Europe at that time finally extinguished. Everyone understood that it was because of Dumbledore’s existence that Britain was not involved in the war, and because of his actions, the war was not destroyed. Multiple people.

With this great feat alone, Dumbledore is qualified to be worshipped.But not only did he never take pride in it, or even take the initiative to bring up this topic, even if he occasionally talked about it, he would quickly change the topic.Although such behavior can be regarded as a kind of humility, she was still instinctively aware of the subtle sense of violation.

"It would be nice if I was there at the time." Zoe fantasized about the duel that was recorded as a battle of the world, imagining Dumbledore, much younger than now, holding his wand imposingly, even if it was the most impressive at the time. The fearful first-generation Dark Lord used all his moves and was unable to defeat him, "I really want to see the scene at that time."

"But why is it 1945?" She asked in confusion. This is also a common question of many people. "Why have to wait for five years?" The book also records facts that most people know-as early as Grindelwald, under the banner of "for the greater good," after the continued atrocities in Europe, the international wizarding community made more than one appeal, hoping that Dumbledore could stand up and stop the Dark Lord, but Dumbledore never gave it. The positive reply was to stay at Hogwarts and continue teaching.

In order to resist Grindelwald, there were also many wizards who stepped onto the battlefield and never returned.The battle was in a stalemate, but no one was able to defeat Grindelwald at the time, except Dumbledore.As long as Grindelwald has not fallen, the war between maintaining order and destroying order will never stop.

"It's a good question that goes deep into the core." After a long silence, Zoe felt that Dumbledore would definitely not answer her question, "Because I couldn't do it at the time."

"Can't do it?" Zoe thought for a while. "Are you hurt at Dumbledore?" She could only think of such a possibility.

"No, my body is very healthy." Dumbledore sighed. "It's just that some special and inconvenient reasons, and the weak expectations that have been blocking me in my heart, made me unable to take action."

"But as soon as the problem is solved, you will do it, right?" Zoe didn't understand why he sighed, thinking that he was regretting that he could not fight Grindelwald earlier. "You have done everything you can. "

"Everything you can do? No, I didn't." Dumbledore shook his head. At this moment, Zoe couldn't forget the strange smile he showed until today. Maybe he could not understand the emotions in it at the time, but at this time In retrospect, it was a very calm smile full of loneliness and pain that could not be dissipated even after being washed away by time.It's like accepting the future you have chosen, without regret, but still unable to be relieved.

"It would be great if everything could be washed by the flames like Fox was born again." The smile appeared only for a moment, and it changed back to the Dumbledore that Zoe was familiar with. He touched Zoe's head. "Want to play with Fox? I asked it for you yesterday."

Standing on the perched tree branch, the phoenix gave a gentle cry, and the feathers on his body looked like scarlet flames.